Just The Bookstore

Jane's 2011 Holiday Picks for Children

2011-11-28T15:03:00.001-06:00

One of our favorite holiday traditions at The Bookstore is when Jane puts together her annual list of holiday books for children. As many of you know, Jane is a happy grandmother, and loves previewing the newest books of the season. Here she is with two of her adorable granddaughters.

Did you know that you can place a pick-up order for any of these books by clicking the titles below? Just click "add to cart" and "I would like to pick this order up at the store," and we will call you when it's ready. There is even a message box where you can request complimentary gift wrapping!

Happy holidays to you and yours!

THE SCRAWNY LITTLE TREE by Ed Mehler: Thisis a charming little book about a boy rich in the spirit of Christmas and avery special tree.

THE CARPENTER’S GIFT by David Rubel: Atouching story about the beginnings of the famous Christmas tree in RockefellerCenter. A small boy, a Christmaswish, and an amazing story. Thisone is a keeper and the pictures are grand.

A CHRISTMAS TREE FOR PYN by Olivier Dunrea: Thisis a sweet story about a little girl who really wants a Christmas tree andalthough her papa has very little to say, she will indeed have her Christmastree.

SONG OF THE STARS by Sally Lloyd-Jones: Ifyou love those stories that incorporate the creation story into the Christmasstory, this is the book for you. The pictures in this one are beautiful too.

HOME FOR CHRISTMAS by Jan Brett: InBrett’s usual beautifully detailed style we meet a little troll who is notespecially nice and has a lot to learn. He gets it figured out by Christmas, thank goodness! Brett’s THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS has also been re-released with aCD read by Jim Dale, of Harry Potter fame and accompanied by the Boston Pops.

THE THIRD GIFT by Linda Sue Park: Thisbeautifully illustrated book tells the story of myrrh, how it is collected, andis a beautiful story of father and son and their relationship. A great gift for the celebration ofEpiphany.

CHANUKAHLIGHTS by Michael Rosen and Robert Sabuda: RobertSabuda has worked his magic with pop-up art yet again to give us this beautifulChanukah book. This is a treat anda must have for all our Jewish friends.

The Staff Recommends: The Queen of America

2011-11-28T10:48:00.001-06:00

Dear Friends,

I have been waiting to tell you about Queen of America for a long time. I read it last summer, back when it was just an advance reader's copy, but now it's your turn. I'm just so sorry you've had to wait!

You might have met Luis and his wife Cindy at our Cinco de Mayo Author Event in 2010, or at the Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest in 2011, and if so, then you know what kind of magic awaits you. But if you haven't, I can't even begin to tell you about the wonders of this story. You'll just have to read it yourself.

Queen of America is as beautiful as the cover, which is saying a lot. It's the long-awaited sequel to The Hummingbird's Daughter, the story of Luis' great aunt Teresita, the faith-healing Saint of Cabora from Mexico. You don't have to read Hummingbird first, but if you have, reading Queen of America is like reuniting with long-lost friends.

I laughed, I cried, I marveled at Luis' pumped-up, bigger-than-life characters. Teresita has been exiled from Mexico and is living in Arizona, where assassins and mobs of believers still manage to hunt her down. Her relationship with her boisterous father (I loved him in Hummingbird's Daughter) sadly deteriorates. She strikes out on her own in turn-of-the-century America, taking her faith-healing gifts from Arizona to San Francisco, St. Louis and New York. She might be a saint but she's a famous and independent young woman "on tour." Whom can she trust? Whom can she love?

It begs for a Hollywood epic. But first, Queen of America wants to be in your hands as you read by the fire with a nice glass of spirits.

Glen Ellyn area readers will be happy to know that we are hoping to plan another Cinco de Mayo this year with Luis Urrea. That will give you and your book club plenty of time to read both Hummingbird and Queen of America before another night of storytelling magic. Click here to go to our website to reserve a copy of the book or buy the Google e-book.

And for a great gift idea, you could wrap up a copy of this book into a gift basket with a bottle of tequila, a lime and some chips and salsa. Yum.

Happy Reading!

Margie

2011-11-02T18:23:00.000-05:00

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

In a post-everything era where old-school classics are being turned into bizarre zombie love stories (Pride And Prejudice And Zombies anyone?) or chick-lit romantic romps (from Bridget Jones’ Diary to all those sexed-up Mr. Darcy books) it is remarkable that an unembellished story of a love triangle among Ivy League college kids can still hook 21st century readers. In The Marriage Plot, Jeffrey Eugenides proves that the romantic marriage-based plots of long-ago Jane Austen novels are not dead, and certainly not undead. Instead, they’re very much alive, along with their old-fashioned and timeless question: whom shall she marry?

The Marriage Plot is told from the alternating points of view of three college students who meet at Brown University (Eugenides’ alma mater) in the late 70’s: Madeleine, a smart, WASPY English major, Mitchell, a soul-searching Religious Studies major, and Leonard, a tall, mercurial bad-boy. It’s a choice as old as time.

Madeleine is a fan of 19th century novels, and in the first scene of The Marriage Plot, Eugenides gives us an intimate peek at her college bookshelf:

There were her Edith Wharton novels, arranged not by title but date of publication; there was the complete Modern Library set of Henry James, a gift from her father on her twenty-first birthday; there were the dog-eared paperbacks assigned in her college courses, a lot of Dickens, a smidgen of Trollope. Along with good helpings of Austen, George Eliot and the redoubtable Bronte sisters.

But Madeleine isn’t just abookworm. She ventures out to a toga party where she meets Mitchell, a nice,curly-haired boy who is “good with parents.” Mitchell joins Madeleine on a triphome for Thanksgiving and impresses her traditional suburban family with dazzling Scrabble performances and manly games of pool. Mitchell misses hischance to make a big romantic move but continues to pine for her, his secretdream girl.

By senioryear, Madeleine begins to feel a bit dowdy and conventional about her taste in literature. She’s drawn to aradical new English seminar that is popular with the cool black t-shirt crowd.It is there that Madeleine meets Leonard, a tall, handsome tobacco-chewingbiology and philosophy major, who despite a crazy Jack Nicholson look, givesMadeleine a “strange fairy-tale feeling, as if she were a princess sittingbeside a gentle giant.”

Andif The Marriage Plot would pausethere, like an episode of TheBachelorette, and poll the readers: “whom should she choose?” --we’d shoutout our advice: “pick Leonard!” – “pick Mitchell!” Or maybe, if we’re young atheart and have succumbed to Twilight vampirehype, we’d buy a t-shirt for “Team Mitchell” or “Team Leonard.” Because forsome reason (who knows why, maybe our brains are just hardwired for it) westill love these romantic dilemmas. But then, after some boozybook club debate about the merits of each bachelor, we would quickly,addictively return to The Marriage Plotwhere we left off.

The novelfollows the trio’s coming-of-age as they graduate and move forward with theirpost-graduation plans. Mitchell leaves on a spiritual world tour, includinga stint of volunteer work with Mother Teresa.Leonard snags a prestigious biology fellowship but struggles with bipolardisorder. Madeleine follows Leonard and tries to nurse him through his wild moodswings. When Leonard and Madeleine are isolated in a small apartment at his labin Cape Cod, you just might be reminded of some of the early scenes from The Shining. Leonard is losing it.

You begin to wonder whether Madeleine should choose either Leonard or Mitchell. It is, after all, 1982, and Madeleine is applying to graduate programs in feminist Victorian studies. This was the era when bumper stickers read: “A Woman Needs A Man Like A Fish Needs A Bicycle.” Madeleine has a nice-enough family and an empty room back in New Jersey waiting for her, complete with cozy Madeline wallpaper, in case she needs a place to crash and regroup after graduation. What she needs is a good girlfriend intervention. She needs to blast her Sony Walkman with loud, rowdy, move-on-with-your-life-without-a-guy break-up songs.

But alas, Madeleine is young and in love, and a bit like some of those characters in the sentimental 19^th century novels, she’s in love with being in love.During an earlier break-up with Leonard, Madeleine tried to soothe herself withsome of the new literary analysis she’s been studying:

If youused your head, if you became aware of how love was culturally constructed andbegan to see your symptoms as purely mental, if you recognized that being “inlove” was only an idea, then you could liberate yourself from its tyranny.Madeleine knew all that. The problem was, it didn’t work.

Ahyes, romance survives its scholarly deconstruction. The burning torch of themarriage plot is not so easily extinguished after all.

This trio’s tangled road to adulthood makes for an engaging story. The marriage plot is suspenseful - page-turningly so. We care about these characters; we’re invested in their future. And as they move forward with their lives, their bad 80’s fashion choices, their fairy-tale dreams and their youthful love triangle in the past, there is at least some good news. They don’t have to worry about vampires, zombies or The Bachelorette show for about 25 more years.

Come check out this book for yourself on The Bookstore's staff pick shelf. Available as a Google e-book on our website here for only $12.99. And come back to The Bookstore to take part in our informal poll: Team Leonard or Team Mitchell? Or maybe just Team Madeleine (a fish without a bicycle)?

2011-10-13T13:39:00.000-05:00

The Funny Man by John Warner

Beer & Book Signing Tuesday October 18th at 7pm

We hope you can make it to The Bookstore on Tuesday, October 18th at 7pm for a conversation with authors John Warner and Kevin Guilfoile.

Seriously, you have to pick up a copy of Warner's new book. Margie just finished it and loved it, calling it a "really moving combination of funny and sad." Plus, did you know Dave Eggers designed the cover?

Come on down on Tuesday and find out if it is a mere coincidence that Warner named two of his characters Margie and Mrs. Kowalski. Seriously! How cool is that?

Please call (630) 469-2891 or email justbook475@yahoo.com to RSVP. We're buying beer & pretzels to make it even more fun. You should come!

2011-09-21T22:43:00.000-05:00

Sister Carrie

Literary Tour of Chicago

This month we joined the Glen Ellyn Historical Society Book Club in its reading of Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser. One of the joys of reading Sister Carrie has been to follow Carrie on her journey through the streets and sights of Chicago in 1889. Dreiser wrote the book in 1900, but set it in a time when Chicago was on the verge of major change and development in preparation for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. Chicago just wasn't the same in 1900 as it was in 1889 - and neither was Carrie Meeber.

One of the remarkable things about a Sister Carrie Literary Tour is not how much has changed, but how much has been preserved. It might take a little imagination, but the ghosts are there among the landmarks.

We are working on creating a map of all of these sights for a self-guided sightseeing tour. If we have enough people to sign up we will arrange a private bus tour from Glen Ellyn, which will include a cocktail hour at the Palmer House Hotel. If you are interested in joining us, please contact Sue or Margie at The Bookstore at (630) 469-2891, or comment below.

All page references are to the Signet Classic Paperback Edition, 2009.

1. Old Wells Street Train Station

Carrie arrives on the Chicago and North Western train from Wisconsin, which in 1889 would have pulled into the old Wells Street Station at Wells and Kinzie. This station was torn down in 1911 when a new station was built on the west side of the Chicago River. The Merchandise Mart now stands at this location. This scene is where Carrie parts from Drouet and greets her sister Minnie Hanson (p. 9).

Image http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wells_Street_Station.jpg

2. State and Lake: Drouet’s Office

Drouet pulls out a “neat business card” andhands it to Carrie on the train, trying to impress her. As he says in the book: “ ‘This is the house I travel for,’ he wenton, pointing to a picture on it, ‘corner of State and Lake.’ There was pride inhis voice.” (p. 7)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_Brothers_Building

The Page Brothers Building is a ChicagoLandmark that represents the only standing cast iron façade building that wasbuilt after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. This may have been Drouet’sbuilding, but if not, it is a good representation of the types of structuresstanding at the corner of State & Lake in the Sister Carrie era. TheChicago Theater had not yet been built.

3. Minnie Hanson’s Flat

Dreiser says that Minnie Hanson’sflat is located at 354 West Van Buren. It is described as a working classneighborhood inhabited by laborers and clerks (pp. 7, 11).The current location of thisaddress is on the east bank of the Chicago River, underneath the CongressStreet bridge in the middle of the Lower Wacker construction project.

This address is probablyfictional, because the book describes Carrie walking east on Van Buren throughan area of “shanties and coalyards” until she finally came upon the river.Dreiser seems to be picturing Minnie’s flat to be several blocks west of theriver, possibly in the Halsted Street neighborhood. Later in the book, whenCarrie agrees to move out of her sister’s flat, Drouet says he will “come outas far as Peoria and wait for her.” (p. 71). Peoria is two blocks west of Halsted.

“354West Van Buren” in 2011. Images by Margie White.

4. Carrie’s JobSearch Across the Loop

Carrie’s brother-in-law recommendsshe start her job search at the commercial establishments on Franklin. Shespots a dry goods wholesaler (“Storm & King”) on Franklin, but she chickensout and wanders aimlessly through the Loop. She is said to have walked pastMadison, Monroe, La Salle, Clark, Dearborn and State, until she backtracked toapply for a job at Storm & King. They didn’t have any job openings, butthey suggested she go apply at the department stores on State Street (pp. 16-20).

Chicago Landmark: Lake-Franklin Groupbuildings

http://webapps.cityofchicago.org/landmarksweb/web/photodetails.htm?phoId=7315

“As the oldest remaining buildings in the Loop,this commercial block represents a rare example of what downtown Chicago lookedlike when it rebuilt from the Fire of 1871. These early-Victorian era buildingsexhibit many of the distinctive features of post-Fire architecture, includingcast-iron columns, incised stonework, decorative window hoods, and archedwindow openings. Located just one block from the Chicago River, this intactgroup of "mercantile loft" structures is one of the last remnants ofthe city's wholesaling district, an area that was integral to Chicago's statusin the late-19th century as the world's largest market for grain, lumber,livestock, and provisions. The early occupants of these buildings represent acompendium of period wholesalers: a tannery and leather dealer, a manufacturerof iron and woodworking machinery, a sandstone company, a steam heatingcompany, mitten and hat manufacturers, and a corner saloon.”

5. The Fair DepartmentStore

Carriefinally asked a policeman for directions to the department stores of Chicago,and he directed her to The Fair on State Street. It was one of the more modestdepartment stores along what was then called the “Ladies Half-Mile.” Dreiseruses clothing to portray social standing, so when the policeman sent Carrie toThe Fair, he had already judged her unworthy of the higher-end departmentstores like Field’s or Carson, Pirie Scott. He was right. Carrie was enthralled,and found it to be a “showplace of dazzling interest and attraction.” (pp. 21-22)

TheFair occupied nearly every building along the north side of Adams between Stateand Dearborn. According to Chicago Urban History:

The Fair was one ofseveral major department stores that operated along Chicago's State Streetduring the early twentieth century and helped transform the city's Loop district into a bustling center of entertainment and leisure. Known forthe affordability and practicality of its merchandise, The Fair never attractedthe so-called "carriage trade." Instead, it catered primarily toChicagoans of more modest incomes: middle-class professionals, working-classmen and women, and first- and second-generation immigrants. One of the store'smost widely dissiminated [sic] marketing slogans promised “ ‘Everything forEverybody under one roof' at a cheap price.” http://www.chicago.urban-history.org/ven/dss/the_fair.shtml

The Fair, circa1906. Source: Library of Congress http://memory.loc.gov/ndlpcoop/ichicdn/n0044/n004407.jpg

6. Jackson &Wells, Near Carrie’s Place of Employment

After Carrie’sdisappointment at The Fair, she heads back west along the south side of JacksonBoulevard. She stops to apply at a hat-making shop on Jackson. She then crossesFifth Avenue (now known as Wells Street) and spots the fictional Rhodes,Morgenthau and Scott, the wholesale shoe company where she is briefly employed (pp. 20-21).

Corner ofJackson and Wells in 2011.

Image by MargieP. White

The McKlintockbuilding in the background

was built in1896 and was not standing in

Carrie’s era,but would have been there

when Dreiserwrote the book in 1900.

7. Union ParkChurch in Ogden Place Neighborhood

InChapter 10, Dreiser states that “Drouet had taken three rooms, furnished, inOgden Place, facing Union Park, on the West Side. . . . The best room lookedout upon the lawn of the park. . . . Over the bare limbs of the trees, . . .rose the steeple of the Union Park Congregational Church.” (pp. 90-91)

Union Park Congregational Church wasbuilt in 1869, survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and temporarily housedcity workers while government offices were being reconstructed. Abolitionistleaders Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman are said to have spoken at thechurch. Martin Luther King Jr. also addressed the congregation. It was in thenews recently when its spire was damaged in the heavy snow and lightning in February,2011.  articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-02-06/news/ct-met-first-...

1613 W.Washington, Chicago, Image: http://www.fbcc-chicago.net/

8. West JacksonHistoric District

Although Carrieand Drouet lived on Ogden Place, Ogden Avenue at Union Park is very commercialnow. In order to capture the feel of the upper and middle-class neighborhood asit was in 1889, go to the West Jackson Historic District, located on the 1500block of West Jackson, which is a Chicago Landmark and is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.

West Jackson Blvd. Then (1906)

Source: Unknown

West Jackson Blvd. Now

Images by Margie White

WestJackson homes for sale in 2011 in $700,000-$1 million range.

Bottom two images: http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/categories/near_west_side.php.

9. JeffersonPark, Now Skinner Park

In Chapter15, Hurstwood writes to Carrie “asking her to meet him in Jefferson Park,Monroe Street.” They met on a “rustic bench beneath the green leaves of a lilacbush which bordered one of the paths.” (p. 142)

JeffersonPark is now known as Skinner Park, and although it is surrounded by the WhitneyYoung Magnet School, the Chicago Police Training Academy, and the new Skinner ElementarySchool, it is still a lovely and lively city park with paths, park benches anda playground.

Skinner Park “Sister Carrie” Benches2011, Images by Margie White

More Information

Formore information about the locations in Sister Carrie, there is a listavailable on Goodreads. Very few of these locations exist today, but there aresome historical and current images available on the web. Not all of thewebsites provided are accurate or operational.

Goodreads List:

CARRIE'S RESIDENCES

# 1.354 West Van Buren (theHansons' flat). [Fictional]

# 2.No. 29 Ogden Place (Carrie andDrouet's flat). [Fictional]

COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES

# 3.Bartlett, Caryoe and Co.(Drouet's employer). Corner of State and Lake. [Fictional]

http://webapps.cityofchicago.org/landmar... -- this bldg. was at the corner of State and Lake

# 4.Rhodes, Morgenthau and Scott(shoe company where Carrie is employed). Adams and Fifth Avenue. [Fictional]

# 5.The Boston Store. 118–20 State.

http://chicago.urban-history.org/sites/d...

# 6.Schlesinger and Mayer. State atsoutheast corner of Madison.

# 7.Carson, Pirie, Scott and Co.234 W. Madison.

http://webapps.cityofchicago.org/landmar... -- at 1 S. State Street

# 8.The Fair. State, Adams, andDearborn.

http://chicago.urban-history.org/sites/d...

# 9.Sea and Co. 122–24 State.

# 10.Siegel, Cooper and Co. 185–89Madison.

THEATERS

# 11.Grand Opera House. Clark, nearWashington.

# 12.Criterion Theater. 87Sedgwick.

# 13.McVicker's Theater. Madison,between State and Dearborn.

# 14.Hooley's Theater. Randolph,near La Salle.

# 15.Chicago Opera House.Washington, between Clark and LaSalle.

# 16.Columbia Theater. Monroe,between Clark and Dearborn.

# 17.Avery Hall. Madison and Throop(Carrie makes her acting debut here in Under the Gaslight). [Fictional]

# 18.H. R. Jacob's. Halstead andMadison.

# 19.Standard Theater. 169 S.Halstead.

HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS

# 20.Tremont Hotel. Dearborn andLake.

# 21.Grand Pacific Hotel. Jacksonand Clark.

# 22.Palmer House. State, southeastcorner Monroe.

http://webapps.cityofchicago.org/landmar... (Link is a later, 1925 structure)

# 23.Windsor Hotel (Drouet andCarrie dine here before the seduction). Dearborn, between Madison and Monroe.

# 24.Rector's (Hurstwood and Drouetfavor this restaurant). Clark and Monroe.

# 25.Hannah and Hogg's (Hurstwoodis manager of this resort). Adams, opposite Federal Building.

# 26.Kinsley's Restaurant. 106–7Adams.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS

# 27.The Exposition. MichiganAvenue at Adams.

# 28.Michigan Central RailroadDepot (Carrie is tricked by Hurstwood into boarding the train from this depot).Michigan and Lake.

# 29. Union Park CongregationalChurch, 60 N. Ashland Ave.

http://webapps.cityofchicago.org/landmar...

Historic maps and buildings inChicago

http://webapps.cityofchicago.org/landmar...

Read Sister Carrie with the Glen Ellyn Historical Society Book Club this September

2011-08-30T14:10:00.005-05:00

Attention Glen Ellyn area readers!

There is still time to pick up the September pick for the Glen Ellyn Historical Society Book Club. The next meeting is Thursday, September 22nd from 10am to Noon at the History Center on Main Street.

The Bookstore has paperback copies in stock, so stop in, pick one up and join us. Some of us are even thinking about following up with a Chicago area field trip based on the book.

Here's a post I wrote about it when I read Sister Carrie for the second time just last year:

Sister Carrie (Theodore Dreiser, 1900) is one of my favorite Chicago novels. I recommend Sister Carrie to our local book clubs because it offers moral ambiguity, an early feminist sensibility and layers upon layers of social commentary that are as relevant today as they were 100 years ago.

I would recommend starting your Sister Carrie tour on State Street, because Carrie was so easily seduced by the charms of department store windows. You could stroll through the old Marshall Fields (it will never be Macy's to me), and then have lunch or a drink in the historic Palmer House Hotel on Monroe Street (where Drouet and Hurstwood stayed in Chapters 24-27).

If you're adventuresome, your tour should include a visit to the near west side, particularly Skinner Park (formerly Jefferson Park), where Carrie meets Hurstwood ("on a rustic bench beneath the green leaves of a lilac bush") and they first discuss the possibility of running away together.

* * * *

If you're interested in joining us on a literary tour this fall, leave a comment here or stop in and visit Margie or Sue at The Bookstore. We hope you can make it to the Glen Ellyn Historical Society's book club meeting on September 22nd.

2011-07-19T15:10:00.009-05:00

E-Books Now Available At The Bookstore!

Where You Purchase Your E-Books

Makes A Difference in Your Community

Our loyal customers know how long we have waited to be able to bring Google E-Books to our website! The fantastic news is that we are now able to offer you e-books at the same low prices as our competitors. Most e-books are priced in the neighborhood of $9 to $12.

We thank you for your patience, and hope it's not too late to convince you to change your e-book purchasing habits. Our Google E-books may be downloaded to your computer, the i-pad, Sony e-readers, and even your i-phone! The only device they are not compatible with is the Kindle. That is because the Kindle is a proprietary device owned and controlled by Amazon.

For our customers who have already bought Kindles, we are very sorry to lose your e-book business. However, we hope we can still be your number one choice for print books and children's books. Please continue to join us for book club nights and author events, and support us in any other way you can. Perhaps when you upgrade to your next generation e-reader, tablet or device, you could choose a different device that will help you support your local community. Not only does The Bookstore collect sales tax, we contribute to various schools, libraries and not-for-profits right here in Glen Ellyn. We give back right in our own backyard. Something to think about.

ANYWAY, Go check out our new website and the new Google E-Book feature on the right sidebar. (Go ahead, have you got something better to do right now?) Open a Google account if you don't already use gmail, and you're good to go. Maybe you'd like to purchase one of the Staff Picks you see here on the side of this blog, or under the Staff Picks Tab of our new website? HINT, HINT!

If you have any how-to questions, or need some help trouble-shooting, just shoot us an email or call the store at (630) 469-2891. Most of our employees have completed their own e-book purchases by now and should be able to help you.

We thank you for your support. We really do.

Tom Montgomery Fate Appearing at the Glen Ellyn Public Library on June 9th

2011-06-03T22:24:00.017-05:00

Tom Montgomery Fate, Glen Ellyn area author of Cabin Fever, A Suburban Father's Search for the Wild, will be appearing at the Glen Ellyn Public Library on Thursday, June 9th at 7pm to celebrate the publication of his new book. Book sales and signing available.

Tom Montgomery Fate is the author of five books of nonfiction, including Beyond the White Noise (1997), a collection of essays,Steady and Trembling (2005), a spiritual memoir, and Cabin Fever (2011), a nature memoir. His essays have appeared in The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, The Baltimore Sun, Orion, Iowa Review, Fourth Genre, Riverteeth, Sojourners, Christian Century, and many other journals and anthologies; and they regularly air on National Public Radio and Chicago Public Radio. A graduate of the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa, and of Chicago Theological Seminary, he is currently a professor of English at College of DuPage, in suburban Chicago, where he also lives. He and his wife Carol have three children.

"This quietly marvelous book is really a mystery novel at heart. The mystery is, How to live? Tom Montgomery Fate . . . sets out to answer this question, meandering, with Thoreau as his companion, toward the truth - or more accurately, the truths." -- David Gessner, author of Soaring with Fidel

For more information go to Tom Montgomery Fate's website.

Bookfest Literary Luncheon Tickets Now Available

2011-05-23T13:23:00.031-05:00

Tickets are now available for the Author Luncheon at the 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest. Tickets are available for $15 per person online or in person at The Bookstore, 475 N. Main St., Glen Ellyn.

The Featured Authors include Luis Urrea, Brigid Pasulka, Cristina Henriquez and Sarah McCoy. The luncheon is from Noon to 1:30pm on Saturday, June 18, 2011 at Glen Oak Restaurant, 479 Pennsylvania in Glen Ellyn. The luncheon theme is "Inspired By Our History."

The authors will rotate around the restaurant, greet participants and discuss their books, which all involve stories inspired by the authors' own ancestors, who herald from Mexico, Poland, Panama and Puerto Rico. Glen Oak Restaurant will pair their stories with unique ethnic menu choices created specifically for this event.

Tickets to the Bookfest Author Luncheon are $15 per person and are available at The Bookstore or online at the Downtown Glen Ellyn Alliance website. Menu choices include: The Saint of Cabora's Chicken Sandwich, Huila's Savory Crepe, Pigeon's Prize Omlette, Babba Yaga's Veggie Delight, Mira's Half & Half Plate and Verdita's Pollo Americano Big Salad. Each menu item is based on a character or a theme in one of the books.

Come enjoy a unique literary themed luncheon with some very talented authors. Book sales and signings available.

Glen Ellyn Bookfest Welcomes Author Beth Finke on June 18, 2011

2011-05-23T12:56:00.009-05:00

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is pleased to welcome author Beth Finke to The Bookstore, 475 N. Main Street in Glen Ellyn on Saturday, June 18, 2011 from 11:30am to 2pm.

Beth is the author of Hanni and Beth: Safe and Sound, an award-winning book about the love and trust between guide dogs and people who are blind. Beth and her dog Hanni will be at The Bookstore to greet customers and sign copies of her book. This event is free and open to the public.

For a complete schedule of Bookfest 2011 events throughout Downtown Glen Ellyn, go to the Downtown Alliance Website, or follow along on Facebook and Twitter.

Harry Potter Travel

2011-05-18T19:00:00.039-05:00

I just can't resist sharing these photos my daughter took on a recent trip to Edinburgh, Scotland. Friends and customers know what Harry Potter fans we are in our household, so of course my daughter, who is currently studying in London, had to go visit the coffee shop where J. K. Rowling started writing Harry Potter. Doesn't it look like a comfortable place to sit and write?

Speaking of writing, you've got to love all of the Harry Potter inspired graffiti on a bathroom wall in the cafe, and the nearby graveyard with a gravestone for a certain Tom Riddell. Apparently, J.K. Rowling discovered the names of quite a few of her other characters on the gravestones there as well, from Potter to McGonagal to Granger.

What a thrill for my daughter, who grew up with Harry Potter, to see these in person and to learn that inspiration and opportunity are all around you.

Earlier this year, the whole family met in London and found some Harry Potter sites in Oxford, including the dining hall, the hospital and the big old tree from the Goblet of Fire. Finally, the kids couldn't resist a goofy pose at the fake Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station in London.

If any families are planning a trip to the U.K. and want some more Harry Potter travel trips, just stop in The Bookstore on a Friday, and we can have a fun chat.

--Margie

Bookfest Military and History Authors

2011-05-09T11:05:00.011-05:00

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is pleased to welcome a group of military and history authors who will be appearing at Bundles of Books, 560 Crescent Boulevard, Glen Ellyn, on Saturday, June 18, 2011 from 10am to 1pm.

The authors include John Domagalski, an expert on military history, with an emphasis on the Pacific side of World War II. His articles have appeared in World War II History and World War II Quarterly Magazines. He will be discussing and signing his book, Lost at Guadalcanal. A member of the United States Naval Institute, he has interviewed almost fifty naval veterans who served in the South Pacific during World War II. His book tells their dramatic stories of heroism, sacrifice and survival during the early days of the critical battle for Guadalcanal on board two American warships, the USS Astoria and the USS Chicago. John has a degree in marketing and an MBA from Northern Illinois University, and resides in the Chicago area. An excerpt from Lost at Guadalcanal is available at the author's website.

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is also pleased to welcome military historian David Argabright, Editor of In the Land of Nine Dragons, a book dedicated to the history of the 2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry in Southeast Asia 1966-1970. This book, a detailed unit history, is based on more than 200,000 pages of government documents, orders and Battalion Yearbooks. The book took over 12 years and more than 14,000 volunteer hours to complete.

Bookfest Author: Susan Magnuson Walsh

2011-04-20T07:08:00.013-05:00

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is pleased to announce that Susan Magnuson Walsh will be appearing at this year's festival. She is the author of Walking in Broken Shoes: A Nurse's Story About Haiti and the Earthquake. Susan will be appearing at Ten Thousand Villages, 499C Pennsylvania Avenue, from 10am to 1pm on June 18, 2011.

Susan will greet the public and discuss her book, which is a poignant account of her medical work in Haiti at the time of the January, 2010 earthquake. Susan and her medical team were just completing a week long medical mission at Mountain Top Ministries' clinic in Gramothe when the earthquake hit. She and her team became the first responders at a nearby hospital which had very limited supplies, one doctor, and a few nurses.

For more information about Susan's mission, listen to her interview with WBEZ's Global Activism segment of World View on March 17, 2011.

Part of the proceeds from the sale of the book will go to Little by Little, a nonprofit 501(C)(3) organization that supports medical mission work for improved health and well-being in Haiti.

We are please to welcome Susan Magnuson Walsh to Glen Ellyn.

Bookfest Author: Shayne Moore

2011-04-20T06:57:00.007-05:00

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is pleased to announce that Shayne Moore, Wheaton mom and global activist, will be appearing at this year's festival. Shayne the author of Global Soccer Mom: Changing the World Is Easier Than You Think. She will be appearing from 10am to 1pm at The Bike Shop, 495 Main Street in Glen Ellyn on June 18, 2011.

Shayne will greet readers, neighbors and bicycle enthusiasts, and will discuss her book and her work with World Bicycle Relief. Come meet this dynamic neighbor who can teach us how to change the world one bike at a time. The event is free and open to the public. Book sale and signing available.

Featured Bookfest Author: Melanie Benjamin

2011-04-19T09:25:00.017-05:00

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is proud to announce that Melanie Benjamin will be one of its Featured Authors at this year's festival on Saturday, June 18th, 2011. Melanie will be appearing at Teas and Toes, 413 N. Main St., Glen Ellyn, from 10am to 11:30am, where she will discuss her historical fiction in a fun and relaxed setting. The event is free and open to the public, no registration is required.

Melanie is the New York Times Bestselling Author of Alice I Have Been, which has been The Bookstore's bestselling novel since Harry Potter. She is also getting prepared to launch her second novel in July, The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb. Melanie will greet fans and discuss the characters who have inspired her historical fiction, from Alice Liddell to Lavinia Warren Bump.

The Bookfest is thrilled to have a local treasure like Melanie Benjamin. Come show your support and enjoy some tea and perhaps a foot soak! More information about the full schedule of Bookfest activities is available on the Downtown Alliance website. You may also follow the Glen Ellyn Bookfest on Facebook and Twitter for updates and information.

Bookfest Keynote Speaker: Mary Doria Russell

2011-04-16T09:46:00.043-05:00

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is pleased to announce that the Keynote Speaker for this year's festival is the New York Times Bestselling Author and Lombard native, Mary Doria Russell. Mary will deliver the Keynote Address at 2pm at the Glen Ellyn Public Library. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Registration is available on the Glen Ellyn Public Library website, or by phone at (630) 469-0879.

As many of Mary's loyal fans know, Mary grew up in Lombard, Illinois, attended Glenbard East High School, and worked at the Helen Plumb Library as a teenager. In 2009, Glenbard East High School inaugurated the Mary Doria Russell Chapter of the National English Honor Society. Mary even named a character in her book Dreamers of the Day after her favorite high school English teacher from Glenbard East, Agnes Shanklin. We first met Mary when she appeared at the Helen Plum Library in 2009, where she absolutely charmed the crowd. (More about her prior appearance on our blog post here.) We are thrilled to welcome Mary back to the area.

Mary is the author of many highly acclaimed books, including The Sparrow (1996), Children of God (1998) Thread of Grace (2005 - Pulitzer prize nominee), and Dreamers of the Day (2008). Mary's newest book is Doc (Random House, May 3, 2011), the fictional account of a year in the life of Doc Holliday.

Mary Doria Russell has a broad range of talent, from science fiction to historical fiction and now western fiction. She admits she was addicted to books as a child, including the westerns of Zane Grey. You can tell. Doc has the voice and all of the hallmarks of a good western tale. As Mary herself said: "it's about vice, bigotry, violence and living with a terminal disease. Doc will break your heart."

Doc focuses on one year in the life of John Henry Holliday, who was born a Southern gentleman in Atlanta and was on the road to becoming a tame Dallas dentist before he lost his job in the economic panic of 1873. By 1878, he was a professional gambler in the wild west town of Dodge City Kansas, living with a Hungarian prostitute and nursing a horrible cough caused by tuberculosis. It's where his unlikely friendship with Wyatt Earp begins.

Fans of Mary Doria Russell will be delighted with this book. It's a new direction for her, but it's got all of the incredible storytelling talent that we have come to love in her writing. It's funny and colorful, compassionate and heartbreaking. It's got it all. For readers who have never discovered Mary Doria Russell, you're in for a new treat.

Mary will discuss her new book, as well as the myths and truths of Doc Holliday's life. Mary is a highly entertaining public speaker - this is an event you do not want to miss. The book is available at The Bookstore starting May 3, 2011. With a purchase of the book you will receive a priority ticket to the line for the book signing, which will follow the address.

We hope you can join us in downtown Glen Ellyn for a day during which a village celebrates books! The full schedule of events is available here. In the meantime, please follow the Glen Ellyn Bookfest on Facebook and Twitter for updates and information.

Featured Bookfest Author: Leah Stewart

2011-04-16T08:34:00.028-05:00

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is proud to announce that author Leah Stewart will be appearing at this year's festival on June 18, 2011. She will be appearing at Knickers of Glen Ellyn from 10am to 1pm, where she will meet readers and sign copies of her books.

Leah is the author of Husband and Wife (also available in paperback), The Myth of You and Me, and Body of a Girl. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt University, where she was the editor of the student newspaper, and received an MFA from the University of Michigan. She is the recipient of an 2010 NEA Literature Fellowship. She currently teaches in the University of Cincinnati's writing program, and lives in Cincinnati with her husband and two children.

Knickers owner Kathryn Hudson is a big fan of Leah Stewart's books, and is thrilled to be able to host an event called "Husband and Wife at Knickers." The event is free and open to the public.

Bookfest Mystery Authors

2011-04-15T21:30:00.023-05:00

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is thrilled to announce there will be a Featured Group of Mystery Authors at this year's festival on June 18, 2011. They will be appearing in a free program called "Running into Trouble" at Run Today, 476 N. Main Street, from 10am to 1pm on Saturday, June 18, 2011.

The mystery authors confirmed as of this date include Joelle Charbonneau, the Chicago area author of Skating Around the Law, the first in the Rebecca Robbins mystery series by St. Martin's/Minotaur Press. The second book in the series, Skating Over the Line, will be released in September, 2011. Joelle is also working on a new show choir murder mystery called Murder for Choir, to be released in 2012 by Berkley Prime Crime.

Also appearing at the Bookfest Mystery Program is Robert Goldsborough, a Chicago area mystery writer. Goldsborough, a former Chicago Tribune reporter, has created a series about a wisecracking police reporter in Chicago in the 1930's and 40's. Terror at the Fair is his latest installment in his Snap Malek detective series, and is set during the Chicago Railroad Fair in 1949.

Book sales and signings will be available.

Featured Bookfest Author & Illustrator: Tom Lichtenheld

2011-04-14T16:02:00.022-05:00

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is thrilled to announce that the Featured Children's Author for this year's festival is Tom Lichtenheld, a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of books for children. Tom will be appearing from 10-11:30am at The Bookstore, 475 N. Main St. in Glen Ellyn on June 18, 2011.

Tom is the illustrator of two New York Times bestselling children's books, Duck! Rabbit! and Shark vs. Train. He is the author of many other popular books, including the newly released Cloudette and Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site.

Other bookstore favorites include Bridget's Beret, What Are You So Grumpy About and What's Wrong With This Room? The book Duck! Rabbit!, which he created with Amy Krouse Rosenthal, spent nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and was actually read at the 2010 White House Easter Egg Roll.

There are no tickets required for this event; however, please call The Bookstore at (630) 469-2891 or email us to reserve a spot for your child. The purchase of one of Lichtenheld's books is required for each child attending. Books may be purchased in advance or on the day of the Bookfest. When registering your child, be prepared to tell us their age, your phone number and which of Tom Lichtenheld's books you would like to order. (A full list of his books can be found here.) If the event is not sold out in advance, children will be welcome on a first come, first serve basis.

Tom Lichtenheld will give a short, kid-friendly talk with drawings and audience participation. Children will have a chance to see up close how he comes up with his ideas and drawings. A book signing will follow the presentation.

Featured Bookfest Author: Luis Urrea

2011-04-13T10:46:00.020-05:00

The Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is proud to announce that Luis Urrea will be one of its Featured Authors at this year's festival on Saturday, June 18th, 2011.

Luis will join Brigid Pasulka, Cristina Henriquez and Sarah McCoy in a Literary Luncheon called "Inspired by Our Ancestry" at the Glen Oak Restaurant from 12:00pm to 1:30pm. Tickets are $15 and are now available at The Bookstore or the Downtown Glen Ellyn Alliance website. It will be a perfect event for your entire book club. Space is limited, so purchase your tickets early.

Friends of The Bookstore may know Luis from one of The Bookstore's most interesting events last year, our Cinco de Mayo party. Luis is one of the best storytellers around, and now he is finished with the sequel to The Hummingbird's Daughter. The sequel is called The Queen of America, and although it won't be released until December, we hope Luis will be sharing bits and pieces of it with us. In both books, Luis explores the history of his Mexican ancestor, Saint Teresita, in a captivating blend of history, magic and miracles.

We are especially thrilled that Luis will be paired with two other Chicago area authors whose books share a similar theme. In A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True, Brigid Pasulka writes about her own Polish ancestry, and in Half the World, Cristina Henriquez writes about a girl discovering her roots in Panama, the home of her grandparents. Finally, author Sarah McCoy will be joining the luncheon to discuss her own Puerto Rican ancestry, which is the subject of her first novel, The Time It Snowed In Puerto Rico.

All of these featured books, as well as Luis' many other books, are available at The Bookstore now - pick them up and read it before the luncheon, and enjoy the discussion even more. In the meantime, please follow the Glen Ellyn Bookfest on Facebook and Twitter for updates and information.

Featured Bookfest Author: Brigid Pasulka

2011-04-13T08:51:00.022-05:00

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is proud to announce that Brigid Pasulka will be one of its Featured Authors at this year's festival on Saturday, June 18th, 2011.

Brigid will join authors Luis Urrea, Cristina Henriquez and Sarah Mccoy in a Literary Luncheon called "Inspired by Our Ancestry" at the Glen Oak Restaurant from 12:00pm to 1:30pm. Tickets are $15 and are now available at The Bookstore and on the Downtown Glen Ellyn Alliance website. Purchase of the book(s) is separate.

Brigid is a Chicago area author, English teacher and graduate of the Dartmouth College and the University of Illinois at Chicago Program for Writers. Her first book, A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True won the PEN/Hemingway Award in 2010, and was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. It also earned a blue staff pick card at The Bookstore!

We are very excited about Brigid's appearance, particularly since we read and reviewed A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True during our Chicago Writers Month project last October. Brigid based the book on her own travels to Poland after college, where she researched and learned more about her own grandparents' story. For more information, our earlier blog post can be found here. Brigid has a wonderful website with more information about the book, including a Reader's Guide, glossary and map.

We will make an announcement as soon as tickets for the Bookfest Literary Luncheon are available. In the meantime, please follow the Glen Ellyn Bookfest on Facebook and Twitter for updates and information. The entire schedule and program will be available soon.

Bookfest Author: Cristina Henriquez

2011-04-13T07:45:00.023-05:00

The Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is proud to announce that Cristina Henriquez will be one of its Featured Authors at this year's festival on Saturday, June 18th, 2011.

Cristina will join authors Luis Urrea, Brigid Pasulka and Sarah McCoy in a Literary Luncheon called "Inspired by Our Ancestry" at the Glen Oak Restaurant from 12:00pm to 1:30 pm. Tickets are $15 and are available at The Bookstore, 475 N. Main Street in Glen Ellyn, as well as the Downtown Glen Ellyn Alliance website. Purchase of the book(s) is separate.

Cristina is a Chicago area author and a graduate of Northwestern University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She has written two books: her first, a short story collection called Come Together, Fall Apart, and the second, a novel called The World in Half. Her first book was a New York Times Editors' Choice selection, and Virginia Quarterly called her one of literature's "promising new luminaries." For more information about Cristina, check out her website or this Chicago Tribune profile.

The World in Half is based on Cristina's own childhood visits to her grandparents in Panama every summer. Her father grew up near the Panama Canal. In The World in Half, a young woman travels from Chicago to Panama to locate the father she never met, and discovers that it's not just the Panama Canal that cuts the world in half.

We are very excited about Cristina's appearance, particularly since Jen Karsbaek at Devourer Of Books gave The World in Half a glowing review during our Chicago Writers' Month last October.

A perfect event for your book club! Cristina's book is available at The Bookstore now - pick it up and read it before the luncheon, and enjoy the discussion even more.

In the meantime, please follow the Glen Ellyn Bookfest on Facebook and Twitter for updates and information.

The Four Ms. Bradwells by Meg Waite Clayton

2011-03-22T07:52:00.018-05:00

I'll admit it: I'm a Ms. Bradwell wannabe.

But first, a little background from Meg Waite Clayton's new book, The Four Ms. Bradwells. In 1869, Myra Bradwell was denied admission to the Illinois Bar because she was a woman. She appealed her case all the way up to the nine white males on the United States Supreme Court - and lost by a vote of 8-1. The Supreme Court said, as quoted in the book's epigraph:

"The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life. … The paramount destiny and mission of woman are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator.”

Yes, they really did say that.

Fast forward 110 years to a scene in the novel - a lecture hall at the University of Michigan Law School. It's 1979 and the student body is nearly half women. When a feisty female law student insists on being called "Ms." during a classroom discussion of Bradwell v. Illinois, several other female law students rise up in her defense, and a professor kiddingly names them the "Four Ms. Bradwells."

It's a name and a friendship to which the four young women become deeply devoted. They bond over casebooks, hot tubs and spring break road trips to a beautiful family compound on Chesapeake Bay. They remain friends for nearly 30 years, and are reunited when one of the Ms. Bradwells is nominated to the Supreme Court.

Yes, I'm jealous. I also went to law school during the Ms. Bradwells era, but unfortunately, I didn't know anybody with a hot tub, a fireplace in their dorm room or a "family compound." I spent most of my time in the law library drinking bad instant coffee, playing Pac-Man in the student lounge, and hanging out in dive bars with the Thursday Night Study Club. Makes me really wish I'd gotten into Michigan Law. But it's more than that. It's the four Ms. Bradwells. How many women truly have four lifelong friends who have been with them through nearly everything?

But enough about me and my Ms. Bradwell envy.

The Four Ms. Bradwells is a great read for any woman, no matter what your age or alma mater. There are three generations of women: mothers, daughters, mentors, friends. First, there is a first-wave trailblazing feminist lawyer with a boat named Row v. Wade. Then there are the four Ms. Bradwells, second-wave feminists who graduated from law school in the early 80's, when women first entered the legal profession in sizable numbers (with our floppy silk ties, male lawyer wannabes). Then there are their daughters, young women in college and law school, looking for their own path after so many decades of the women's movement.

There are meaty issues in this book that will keep your book club up late, like sexual harassment, fellow woman-envy, gay ex-husbands, Anita Hill v. Clarence Thomas, women's sexuality, and mothering daughters in the post-feminist era. You'll want to discuss whether you would encourage your own daughter to follow in your footsteps - and why or why not. You could discuss the mixed feelings we have when we abandon a successful career for motherhood or an alternative vocation (writing poetry for instance, like one of the Ms. Bradwells did -- writing novels, like Meg Waite Clayton did -- or bookselling, like I did).

See what I mean? This book is really discussable.

But don't be overwhelmed - this is no dark and depressing book. There's plenty of fun and frivolity too, the kind of skinny-dipping silliness us gals can have on a memorable girls' weekend. There's a mysterious death from the long-ago spring break on Chesapeake Bay that threatens to derail the Supreme Court nomination. There are secrets and suspicions and a surprise letter from the grave. There's a ridiculously nutty scene at the end of the book that might make you spit out your coffee. The Four Ms. Bradwells has got it all.

That's why I am so very pleased to announce that Glen Ellyn area readers will have the chance to meet Meg Waite Clayton at a reception and book signing at The Bookstore on Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 7:00 pm. In the meantime, you can find The Four Ms. Bradwells on our staff pick shelf. If you would like to place it on hold until the next time you pop in, just click here.

March Madness Strikes The Bookstore

2011-03-07T21:47:00.029-06:00

Glen Ellyn pedestrians have been stopping dead in their tracks as they pass by on Main Street. They're checking out The Bookstore's new window display.

A giant red rooster, spinning orange basketballs? Of course! It's March Madness at The Bookstore!

The Bookstore's March window display is celebrating the The Morning News T ournament of Books, which starts Tuesday, March 8th and goes through April 1st. If you haven't heard of it before, it's an NCAA-style tournament for books, brackets and all. Every weekday, go to The Morning News for that day's match-up and commentary. It's lots of fun.

The good news for our customers: all books featured in the Tournament will receive a book club discount. Stop in and stock up on some of the best books from the past year.

Then, mark your calendars and join us on Friday, March 25th from 10am to Noon for a "Fourth Friday Coffee Talk" about the Tournament: the brackets, the judges, the upsets, but most of all, . . .

THE ZOMBIES.

Let the games begin!

Book Club Night at The Bookstore

2011-03-03T11:44:00.011-06:00

We had a great turnout of dedicated book club reps at our 11th Annual Book Club Night on Tuesday, March 1st. If you couldn't make it, below is a list of each bookseller's recommendations as well as the books that were chosen as the "Best Discussion Book of 2010" by local book clubs.

Here is a photo of Jenny discussing one of her faves, Paul Auster's Sunset Park. This was after the crowd gave her a big round of applause for being the Chicago Tribune's Indie Bookseller Cover Girl on February 26th!

Jane's Picks:

Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

The Passage by Justin Cronin

A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse

Global Soccer Mom by Shayne Moore*

*Jane was totally inspired by Shayne's book launch last week, and wants us all to join Shayne's mission to go out and get things done!

Jenny's Picks:

Sunset Park by Paul Aster

The Fates Will Find Their Way by Hannah Pittard*

Caribou Island by David Vann

Father of the Rain by Lily King

Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett

A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein

The Surrendered by Chang Rae Lee

*Jenny freely admits she totally stole this one from Margie, but Jenny gave it such a great blurb ("this could be set in Glen Ellyn") all Margie had to do was give her the thumb's up from the back of the room.

Sue's Picks:

Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier*

All Is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang

Let's Take The Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Memory Wall: Stories by Anthony Doerr

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

Elegies for the Brokenhearted by Christie Hodgen

The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell

*Sue's already announcing this might be her favorite book of 2011. And it's only March!

Margie's Picks:

Wingshooters by Nina Revoyr

You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran

A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka*

*We are very excited to announce that Brigid Pasulka will be appearing at the Second Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest on June 18, 2011. We're encouraging our book clubs to read this terrific book in advance and come to our Featured Author Luncheon ready to chat.

Book Clubs' Own Best Discussion Books of 2010:

Still Alice by Lisa Genova (3 book clubs agreed)

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Cutting for Stone by Adam Verghese

Look Me In The Eye by John Robison

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

Acts of Faith by Philip Caputo

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Shafer & Burrows

Beneath the Marble Sky by John Shorts

Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle

This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

Wingshooters by Nina Revoyr

2011-02-09T09:19:00.018-06:00

Wingshooters by Nina Revoyr (Akashic Books, $15.95) is one of The Bookstore's Staff Picks for February, but somehow a little blue Staff Pick card doesn't do it justice. This is an intense, powerful book that you just have to read for yourself.

It starts out as a quiet book, set in a small town in Central Wisconsin in the mid-1970's. Customers who know me will know why I was immediately drawn to this book: that's where and when I grew up.

It's the kind of place where blue-collar men gather to drink beer in their garage and talk about their guns, their duck hunting and the upcoming deer season. It was back when men could have an agreeable chat about those "dang draft dodgers and city slickers" at the local barbershop. The kind of time and place where children could grow up without meeting a person of another race unless they left for a bigger city like Madison, Milwaukee or Chicago. When prejudice was a way of life so deeply ingrained that no one thought to cringe at racial epithets.

And yet.

It was also the kind of a time and place where mothers still made homemade pies, grown men played on baseball leagues, and every kid had a loyal hunting dog as a sidekick. Where a kid could hop on a bike and ride safely for miles past cow pastures and cornfields and silos. A place and time of close family connections that -- admit it -- we wish we still had.

It is into this rich, complicated mix of love and prejudice that Nina Revoyr sets her book. The story features a young girl who has been left to be raised by her grandparents in the fictional town of Deerhorn, Wisconsin. Her dad grew up in Deerhorn, but went off to school in Madison (Wisconsin code for "got newfangled ideas") and married a Japanese woman. Years later, the dad drops off his daughter so he can head off to California in hopes of reconciling with his wife.

The girl narrates the story as a grown woman with a wise but painful perspective:

"So I stayed with my American grandparents whom I had met only once before, in the town they'd both lived in or near for all of their lives. . . . While people in other parts of the country were growing their hair long and smoking pot and wearing polka dot ties and bell-bottoms, the people of Deerhorn dressed in overalls and drank cheap Wisconsin beer. And while there were stories on the nightly news about antiwar protests, women's rights, the school busing crisis in Boston, and Watergate, these events seemed so distant and strange that they might have been taking place in a different country."

The narrator recalls, in a brave clear voice: "Let me make this very clear - my grandfather was a bigot. He wasn't shy about using racial epithets, or blaming blacks or Jews or Democrats for all the country's problems. But it enraged him that the town did not embrace me."

At the same time the town is reacting to this young girl's arrival, a black couple from Chicago moves to town for jobs at the local medical clinic. The town's racial anxieties are stoked by some truly hateful characters, and the young biracial girl and her grandfather are caught right in the middle. The tension builds and the suspense is keep-you-awake-at-night frightening. Make no mistake, this is a tragic, violent and stunning story. A story you need to read.

Looking back, it makes me sad to think that I have known this way of life, that we have known this way of life. I'm sad to learn that Revoyr actually lived in a place like Deerhorn for two years as a child. However, as Revoyr captures so beautifully, the air we breathed back then wasn't all hateful, and in fact most of it was just the opposite. My town wasn't nearly that small and backward, but still, I have stories. And I'm pretty sure you have stories too, even if you didn't grow up there and then.

So what do you do with that history, those stories, that complicated mix of love and anger and ignorance? Is it enough to say that you move forward and teach your own children differently, or must we do more? Fortunately for her readers, Revoyr took her own stories, and with her remarkable imagination and talent, produced this novel.

Wingshooters would make for an incredibly interesting book club night. I highly recommend it.

Fourth Friday Coffee Talk: Clara and Mr. Tiffany February 25th

2011-02-06T15:31:00.013-06:00

The Bookstore is pleased to announced that it has selected the book for the Fourth Friday Coffee Talk on February 25th: Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland.

Pick up the book (at a 10% discount), enjoy the read, and then join Margie and Sue for a drop-in discussion at The Bookstore between 10am and Noon on February 25th. We'll be serving complimentary coffee.

Margie and Jane have already finished it, and really enjoyed it. Historical fiction fans, and especially Susan Vreeland fans will love it. It's based on the true life of the woman who designed Tiffany lamps in turn of the century New York City. You'll learn a lot about the artistry of stained glass, and the obstacles that working women had to overcome in order to pursue a career in those times. You'll never look at stained glass the same again.

We happen to think Clara and Mr. Tiffany would be a great choice for your own next book club. You could plan a trip to the Smith Museum of Stained Glass at Navy Pier in Chicago to see some spectacular Tiffany stained glass windows from the New York studios in the book. Check out this Navy Pier website for some beautiful photos.

Hope you can join us for our Coffee Talk! No RSVP necessary, just stop by.

Global Soccer Mom Book Launch Party

2011-02-06T09:32:00.021-06:00

Meet Shayne Moore

Thurs. Feb. 24th

Book Launch Party

7-9pm

The Bookstore

475 N. Main St.

Glen Ellyn, IL 60137

RSVP: click here

The Bookstore is pleased to announce a Book Launch Party for Shayne Moore, Wheaton mom and global activist, on Thursday, February 24th from 7 to 9pm. Shayne is the author of Global Soccer Mom: Changing the World Is Easier Than You Think.

Shayne will discuss her book and her work with World Bicycle Relief, the advocacy group ONE, and Growers First.

Shayne was determined to make a difference with her book launch party, and has put together a terrific partnership of local retailers to do just that. The Bookstore will donate 10% of the proceeds from the sale of the book to the children of the Glen Ellyn Children's Resource Center. In addition, anyone who purchases the book will receive a coupon for 10% off one purchase at Fushcia and The Bike Shop. For each coupon received, Fuschia will in turn donate 10% of the purchase to the GECRC and The Bike Shop will donate 10% of the purchase to World Bicycle Relief.

Come meet this dynamic neighbor who can teach us how to change the world one step at a time. Buy her book and make a difference, both locally and globally. Complimentary wine and appetizers. Please call (630) 469-2891 or email us at justbook475@yahoo.com to RSVP.

Fourth Friday Coffee Talks: January Wrap-Up

2011-02-02T14:56:00.011-06:00

January's Coffee Talk was really fun. If you missed it, not to worry, Sue and Margie will be announcing their February Coffee Talk pick in the February newsletter. Mark your calendars for the Fourth Friday of each month, and join us for a casual discussion about a new book.

Our January pick was actually two books: Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick and The Ambassadors by Henry James. We were inspired to pick both because of the book flap for Foreign Bodies, which says that Ozick wanted to "retrace the story of Henry James's The Ambassadors - the work he considered his best - but as a photographic negative, in which the plot is the same but the meaning is reversed." That really made us curious to check out both books at once.

It probably helps to read The Ambassadors first. In both books, an "ambassador" is sent from the States to Paris to retrieve a young expatriate and convince him to return to the the States. In The Ambassadors, Henry James describes a cultured, refined Paris of the 1890's (and a cultured, refined older lover) that has worked its magic on the expatriate, seeming to make him a better person than he'd been before. Soon the magic starts to work on the ambassador as well, and no one wants to return to the States. Unfortunately, by the time Ozick's characters make it to Paris in the 1950's, the magic of Paris has been destroyed by war and despair. The "photographic negative" that Ozick creates is tragic and sad. However, after reading The Ambassadors, it is still a pleasure to follow the plot and to spot all of the instances in which the meaning and effect has been flip-flopped.

Both books are a recommended read for those who enjoy reading about Americans in Paris, and for any traveler who's ever had the thought: "hey, let's not go home, let's just stay here." I don't know about you, but I swear I have that thought at least once every trip.

January Coffee Talk: Friday, January 28th

2011-01-11T13:27:00.021-06:00

The Bookstore thought it would introduce something new this year: a monthly Coffee Talk Readalong! At the beginning of each month we will select a book and announce our selection in the monthly newsletter. You'll have nearly a month to buy, borrow or download the book. Then, on last Friday of the month we will offer bagels and coffee at The Bookstore from 10am until Noon, and customers can stop in to chat any time that morning at their leisure. Kind of like a book club, but way more chill. Come as you are, come when you can! No purchase required.

Sue and I will start in January with a pair of books that go well together. One is new, Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick. It is based on one of that author's favorite classics of all time, The Ambassadors by Henry James. Read one or both of these novels in January, and come to our coffee chat on Friday, January 28th! Or if you don't have time to read, just pop in to see if it sounds like a book you'd be interested in.

Sue has just finished Foreign Bodies, and I have just finished The Ambassadors, and we're ready to switch books. I loved The Ambassadors, set in turn-of-the-century France, featuring a cast of tightly wound Americans and more cultured and open-minded Parisians. I especially liked it because it was the story of a man in his 50's in the midst of rediscovery, proving you're never too old to grow and discover new things. I kept thinking of Joni Mitchell's tune, Free Man in Paris. Now I can't wait to compare The Ambassadors to a more modern and supposedly flip-flopped story of Americans abroad in Foreign Bodies.

All Coffee Talk book purchases are entitled to our usual book club discounts, so stop in and pick yours up today. Hope to see you the last Friday morning of the month!

Staff Picks: Best of 2010

2011-01-11T06:57:00.033-06:00

I don't know how we did it, but the booksellers at The Bookstore managed to sort through all of their hundreds of reads in 2010 to come up with a list of our Best of 2010 Staff Picks. We made a valiant effort to keep our lists to the top ten, but when you're surrounded by fantastic books everyday, sometimes that is just impossible. It's like they're all our babies.

And because we're booksellers, it's not enough to love a book, we have to spread the love with our customers. So here's a little bonus: any of "our babies" on these lists will be on sale for 10% off through the month of January. The secret code at check-out will be: "BABIES10." (If you're not too ashamed to say that in public, we figure you've earned the discount, along with a high-five.)

Sue's 2010 Favorites (in no particular order, or so she says.)

1. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

2. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

3. Elegies for the Brokenhearted by Christie Hodgen

4. Memory Wall by Anthony Doerr

5. A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

6. Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

7. Great House by Nicole Krauss

8. Half a Life by Darin Strauss

9. Shadow Tag by Louise Erdich

10. Unfinished Score by Elise Blackwell

Jenny's 2010 Favorites

1. The Passage by Justin Cronin

2. The Curable Romantic by Joseph Skibell

3. The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall

4. How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu

5. Exley by Brock Clarke

6. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

7. Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes

8. Crooked Letter Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

9. Father of the Rain by Lily King

10.This is Where I Leave You by Jonathon Tropper ('09 release but enjoyed in 2010)

Margie's 2010 Favorites (in some kind of order, but it changes daily)

1. Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
2. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
3. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
4. Great House by Nicole Krauss
5. The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall
6. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin
7. The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst
8. The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow
9. Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye
10. If I Loved You I Would Tell You This by Robin Black

Jane's 2010 Favorites

1. The Passage by Justin Cronin
2. Divine Appointments by Charlene Baumbich
3. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin
4. The Last Time I Saw You by Elizabeth Berg
5. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
6. 68 Rooms by Marianne Malone
7. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
8. It's A Book by Lane Smith
9. Dog Loves Books by Louise Yates
10. Christmas Kitten, Home at Last by Robin Pulver

Author Appearances in 2010
We are also so grateful for the numerous authors who came to The Bookstore and the First Annual Downtown Glen Elyn Bookfest in 2010 for book signings, author appearances and theme parties. After a particularly memorable night on Cinco de Mayo with the amazing Luis Urrea, we now call our rocking chair the "magical storytelling chair." It has been an an honor to welcome the following authors to our store and our village, and we thank them for sharing their time, their stories and their books:

Melanie Benjamin - Alice I Have Been
Elizabeth Berg - The Last Time I Saw You
Charlene Baumbich - Divine Appointments
Joelle Charbonneau - Skating Around the Law
Stephanie Cowell - Claude and Camille
Marsha Engle - 100 Sounds to See
Pamela Ferdinand - Three Wishes
J. Gordon - Kritterkreep
Shilipi Gowda - Secret Daughter
Kevin Guilfoille - The Thousand
Debbie Kearns - A Garden! A Garden!
J.A. Konrath - Jack Daniels detective series
Valerie Laken - Dream House
Maureen Lipinski - Not Ready for Mom Jeans
Marianne Malone - 68 Rooms
Kelly O'Connor McNees - The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott
John McNally - After the Workshop, Ghosts of Chicago
Dick Nogaj - Don't Retire, Get Inspired
Bob Raczka - Numerous children's books
Mark Reinecke - Little Ways to Keep Calm and Carry On
Janis Simms - Grandma's Basket
Glenette Tiley Turner - Fort Moses
Luis Urrea - Into the Beautiful North

As much fun as it is to make a Top Ten list, it just doesn't seem fair to our other favorite Staff Picks, including: And the Pursuit of Happiness by Maira Kalman, Diamond Ruby by Joseph Wallace, Let's Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell, American Music by Jane Mendelsohn, The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell, The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman, All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang, Lake Shore Limited by Sue Miller, The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson, The Report by Jessica Frances Kane, Pearl of China by Anchee Min, The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli, The Irresistible Henry House by Lisa Grunwald, Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier, The Singer's Gun by Emily Mandel, Finny by Justin Kramon,Innocent by Scott Turow, Faithful Place by Tana French, The Long Way Home by Laura Caldwell . . . we could go on & on. You really should stop in and check out our Staff Pick Shelf for yourself!

And don't forget, we will be inviting YOU to come and share your favorites of 2010 at our Annual Book Club Night on Tuesday, March 1st. Have your book club vote on your favorite book of 2010, and then come and share it with the rest of us over wine and cheese. We will send you home with a list of every book club's favorites.

In the meantime, we'd love to hear your comments below!

Happy New Year from The Bookstore Team

Jane's Holiday Picks For Kids 2010

2010-12-01T17:50:00.013-06:00

Jane Stroh is pictured above with two of her grandaughters, Lydia and Gloria, reading one of their favorite holiday books, Christmas Kitten, Home at Last. Here is Jane's annual list of holiday recommendations:

At the top of my list this year is a small gem of a book, The First Christmas by Anthony Knott. A tiny book written in rhyme with lovely pictures, it is a treat to share with your favorite child.

If you want to share the first Christmas story with the special toddler in your life there are two interactive books I'd recommend: The Very First Christmas Changing Pictures and The Busy Christmas Stable. A great complement to these stories is the Usborne Sing-Along Christmas Carols, which includes a CD and the words to several Christmas carols.

Another favorite of mine this year is Saint Francis and the Nativity by Myrna Strasser. This beautifully illustrated work tells the story of what was probably the first reenactment of the Christmas story and how St. Francis brought Luke 2 alive for his parishioners.

The next on my list is Christmas Kitten Home at Last by Robin Pulver. It is a sweet story, beautifully illustrated. My four year-old granddaughter loved it!

There's a great new story, The Elves' First Christmas by Atsuko Morozumi, about how the elves came to know and work with Santa to make all those Christmas toys.

Yet another wonderful and touching picture book is Christmas in the Time of Billy Lee by Jerdine Nolan. This is a story of faith and belief in what we can't see, and the power of that faith. If you have trouble loving snow this is a book for you.

Nonna Tell Me A Story by Lidia Bastianich is a story that celebrates the family togetherness of Christmas, not the giving and getting of presents.

Some of my favorite children's authors have given us some special presents this season. Tomie De Paola has a collection of some of his best Christmas stories in one lovely volume entitled Joy to the World. There is a new Charlie Brown Christmas pop-up book this year. Helen Lester has added to the Tacky collection with Tacky's Christmas, which includes a CD with some of Tacky's favorite carols. Fans of Ana Dewdney's Llama Llama series will love Llama, Llama Holiday Drama.

For our Jewish friends there are two new books about Hanukkah. Eight Winter Nights by Laura Melmed is a wonderful picture book written in rhyme, telling the Hanukkah story night by night. The back also contains a brief description of the history behind Hanukkah and some Hanukkah traditions. Hanukkah Mice by Ronne Randall is a small book with lovely illustrations, perfect for little hands.

There are many more great holiday books including old favorites like Polar Express that we have in stock, so please stop by and check them all out! And Happy Holidays from all of your friends at The Bookstore.

Chicago Author Month Wrap-Up: Chicago Literary Tour Ideas

2010-11-03T15:48:00.044-05:00

We had a great time joining Jen Karsbaek at Devourer of Books in her month-long focus on Chicago authors. We discovered some fabulous new books, hosted some really cool authors, and added plenty of other books to our personal wish lists.

Before we sign off on this bookish adventure, we wanted to mention a few of our favorite Chicago books that present some of the best opportunities for book club "field trips." For Chicago area readers, or any other readers planning a visit to Chicago, here are some suggestions for a Chicago Literary Tour.

Sister Carrie is ripe with opportunities for an interesting historical Chicago Literary Tour. The online version of the Pennsylvania edition includes a list of all of the locations mentioned in the book, from Carrie's sister's flat at 354 West Van Buren to Carrie and Drouet's love nest at Ogden Place. I would recommend starting your Sister Carrie tour on State Street, because Carrie was so easily seduced by the charms of department store windows. You could stroll through the old Marshall Fields (it will never be Macy's to me), and then have lunch or a drink in the historic Palmer House Hotel on Monroe Street (where Drouet and Hurstwood stayed in Chapters 24-27). If you're adventuresome, your tour should include a visit to the near west side, particularly Skinner Park (formerly Jefferson Park), where Carrie meets Hurstwood ("on a rustic bench beneath the green leaves of a lilac bush") and they first discuss the possibility of running away together.

Devil in the White City (Erik Larson, 2003) is also set in Chicago's Gilded Age, and like Sister Carrie, shows both sides of the coin. This book combines a chilling true crime story with an insider's view of the planning and building of Chicago's World's Fair in 1893. The Chicago Architectural Foundation currently offers a Devil in the White City Bus Tour. Interest in this book is likely to rise again as they begin filming the movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the serial killer.

The La zarus Project (Aleksandar Hemon, 2008) is another great Chicago novel, a National Book Award Finalist and the winner of a Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Fiction. I first raved about this book in a blog post nearly two years ago, and have since hailed Hemon's 2009 short story collection Love and Other Obstacles.

The Lazarus Project is based on a true story from Chicago history. In 1908, Chicago Chief of Police George Shippey murdered Lazarus Averbach, a Jewish immigrant who had gained entry to the Chief's Lincoln Park home. No one really knows why Averbach was there, but Shippey erroneously believed he was a Jewish anarchist who had come to assassinate him.

Shippey's home is located on the 2100 block of North Hudson. Geoffrey Johnson of The Chicago Magazine created a video depicting scenes related to the Averbach story, including Averbach's two burial sites and the foyer of the home where the murder occurred. My dream Chicago Literary Tour would have to include a walk through the Hudson Street area of Lincoln Park in honor of both Hemon and Averbach.

Loving Frank (Nancy Horan, 2007) is based on the love affair between Frank Lloyd Wright and his neighbor Mamah Cheney. It is set in Oak Park, Illinois, where Nancy Horan lived in Oak Park for 24 years. When my book club read this book, we enjoyed an outing to the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio. If you can't get the chance to get to Oak Park, Nancy Horan has a narrated video of a Frank Lloyd Wright Neighborhood Walking Tour on her website. In addition, there is a new Loving Frank Tour at Taliesen, Frank Lloyd Wright's home in Spring Green Wisconsin, which is located approximately 2.5 hours northwest of Chicago.

Our month-long focus on Chicago area authors has shown us that just one month is clearly not enough time. The Bookstore would love to form a Chicago Area Author Book Club, with regular Chicago Literary Tours. To let us know you're interested, please add a comment below, call us at (630) 469-2891, or e-mail justbook475@yahoo.com.

For anyone who can't seem to resist adding more books by Chicago authors to their nightstand, check out this list of books that were included in five and a half years of the Gaper's Block Chicago Book Club. Our Chicago Author Month was clearly just the tip of the iceberg.

Chicago Author Month: Melanie Benjamin as a Celebrity Bookseller

2010-10-27T07:56:00.022-05:00

As part of our month long celebration of Chicago area authors, we extended a unique invitation to one of our favorite local authors, Melanie Benjamin. We thought it would be fun if she came to The Bookstore as a Celebrity Bookseller, in order to recommend some of her favorite books to our customers. Melanie gracefully accepted our invitation, even if she is deep into the proofing process of her next book (The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb, due to be released in July 2011).

As many of our customers and local book clubs know, Melanie has always been a big reader. At book club visits, she is often asked to share her favorite reads, and has even thought about putting together a list of book recommendations to hand out. In the meantime, here is the list of books we gathered for Melanie's own Celebrity Bookseller Picks:

March by E. L. Doctorow (Melanie's favorite historical fiction)

Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow

Howards End by E. M. Forster (turn of the century British literature)

Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier (Melanie: "so creative")

Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh (fiction: the three wives of Mr. Kimball)

Later, at the Bar by Rebecca Barry (similar to Olive Kitteridge)

On Melanie's recommendation alone, I brought home a copy of Later, at the Bar. I love it when I get an enthusiastic recommendation for a book that's completely new to me. Customers enjoyed talking to Melanie, and quite a few even picked up a copy of Melanie's current book, Alice I Have Been.

We even had a fun moment of bookstore serendipity when a customer identified herself as Brigid Pasulka's mother-in-law, and I was thrilled to be able to tell her, "I love Brigid's book - I just blogged about it as a part of Chicago Writers Month!" (A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True, October 13, 2010 post)

Bookstores are like that. They bring good people and good books together. A special thanks to Melanie for sparing some of her time as a busy writer to come hang out with us at The Bookstore!

Pictured above is the paperback cover of Alice I Have Been, which will be released on December 21st. Although I loved the cover in hardcover, I love the new paperback cover in a whole different way. The Bookstore is hosting a reception for Melanie after the holidays on Thursday, January 27th at 7pm. Mark your 2011 calendars now!

Chicago Author Month: Kevin Guilfoile's The Thousand

2010-10-20T09:04:00.029-05:00

Chicagoan Kevin Guilfoile's new thriller The Thousand has already received huge accolades, and has been compared to The DaVinci Code and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I can see why. The book features a creepy Pythagorean cult, and a tough, young female detective who would make a good match for Lisbeth Salander.

For Chicago area readers, this book is even more thrilling. It's set in Chicago, which is perfect, because this town has the same tough, gritty unrelenting energy as the story and its characters. There is a gruff Chicago cop, all accent and attitude, a flashy criminal defense attorney with dangerous secrets, and a fearless but tiny young heroine named Canada Gold. And plenty of powerful bad guys.

Chicagoans will enjoy the settings throughout the city, whether it's Chinatown, a posh Lincoln Park home, a gritty Lakeview bar or Mr. Beef. During an enormous power blackout in the middle of a hot steamy summer, refugees from the heat and the dark camp out in Lincoln Park and along North Avenue Beach. All trails lead to the Gothic north side mansion formerly owned by the Archdiocese of Chicago. It's a city well suited for a thriller, and Guilfoile plays it up just right. (I'm already picturing the film crews.)

The story begins as the conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is on trial for the murder of his young mistress. Although the jury finds him not guilty, we know he did it. Within 24 hours of the verdict, the conductor is murdered and the prime suspect, the father of the murdered mistress, commits suicide. The murder weapon is never found but the investigation is closed. All exciting stuff (are you with me so far?) but this is just the beginning.

Fast forward ten years, when the same murder weapon is used to kill a Chicago doctor with suspicious ties to the long-dead conductor. The conductor's daughter, Canada "Nada" Gold, is now all grown up, but struggles with a mysterious brain implant her father insisted that she have as a young girl. The implant gives her superpowers of observation, which she has been putting to good use as a card counter and a private investigator in Las Vegas. Nada Gold heads back to Chicago, where she and a cool Chicago cop head straight into a dangerous conspiracy.

Different factions of The Thousand, a cult-like group of men and women who have descended from the disciples of Pythagoras, are engaged in a life-and-death battle for control of their mathematical secrets. Depending which faction you follow, these secrets could either destroy the world or lead to universal harmony. Tough little Nada Gold and her bizarre brain implant are caught right in the middle.

If you are thinking that this kind of creepy and suspenseful plot would only come from a writer who is a little weird and unglued, with poor hygiene and a head full of conspiracy theories, you would be wrong. Kevin Guilfoile is no Unibomber; he is a funny, smart Notre Dame alumnus who lives with his family in LaGrange. In fact, it was a sweet, older Notre Dame philosophy professor who gave him the idea to pursue the Pythagoras angle. Guilfoile has been a writer for McSweeney's and The Morning News, and has written a previous medical thriller called Cast of Shadows that some have compared to Michael Crichton. Sue and I got to know him through The Morning News Tournament of Books, where he leads a team of judges through a strange but wonderful March Madness bracket of book match-ups. Guilfoile's approach to book awards is hilarious, irreverent and just plain fun. He is the kind of guy you'd love to meet for a chat over a beer.

That's why we are especially excited to welcome Kevin Guilfoile to Chicago Author Night at The Bookstore on Thursday, October 28th at 7pm for a book discussion and book signing. We are also pleased to be welcoming debut author Joelle Charbonneau, whose debut comedic mystery, Skating Around the Law is a bookstore favorite as well. (For a great review of Charbonneau's book, go to Devourerofbooks.com.)

Please come meet these two incredibly nice, incredibly smart Chicago Area writers, and share a beer or a glass of wine. To register, please call The Bookstore at (630) 469-2891 or e-mail justbook475@yahoo.com.

Chicago Author Month: The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger

2010-10-17T17:16:00.014-05:00

Chicagoan Audrey Niffenegger is best known for her popular novels, The Time Traveler's Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry, but has now created The Night Bookmobile, a graphic novel that combines all of her talents.

Niffenegger is not only a talented writer, she is also a visual artist. She trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received her MFA from Northwestern University. She has been an exhibiting artist and a book arts professor at Columbia College in Chicago for many years.

Niffenegger first conceived of The Time Traveler's Wife as a graphic novel, but the time traveling images were too difficult to draw, so she turned it into a regular novel. As many of our customers know by now, The Time Traveler's Wife was set in Chicago, with scenes that ranged from cultural institutions like the Art Institute and the Newberry Library to unique Chicago restaurants like Ann Sather and the Berghoff. (Check out this cool Time Traveler's Wife Chicago Landmark map.)

Like The Time Traveler's Wife, The Night Bookmobile is set in Chicago. The haunted bookmobile makes surprise appearances in front of Story Studio, a writing arts center in the Ravenswood neighborhood, Wrigley Field, and in an alley near The Empty Bottle on Western Avenue.

The Night Bookmobile is the perfect vehicle for Niffenegger's gifts. As Neil Gaiman says on the back cover, it is "a love letter, both elegiac and heartbreaking, to the things we have read, and to the readers that we are."

The haunting story and pictures will appeal to anyone who has ever described a reading experience as "pure heaven." Imagine a bookmobile filled with everything you have ever read: not just Judy Blume, Nancy Drew and The Fountainhead, but also college textbooks, cereal boxes and your own diary. (Go ahead, imagine your library now. Fun, isn't it?) I enjoyed pouring over the lovely pictures of the Night Bookmobile's shelves, counting how many of those books would be in my Night Bookmobile too. But as pleasing as the possibility of your own private library in eternity would be, this chilling tale makes you realize . . . be careful what you wish for. It comes at a very high price.

We highly recommend The Night Bookmobile to our customers who might enjoy a haunting tale about books. It would make a great Halloween or holiday gift for the adult reader in your life.

Looks like we've made another great Chicago Author Month discovery. Come check out our Chicago Author Shelf at The Bookstore, which includes this and Niffenegger's other books. (The Night Bookmobile, Abrams ComicArts $19.95)

Chicago Author Month: A Long, Long Time Ago And Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka

2010-10-13T17:40:00.021-05:00

I have no idea how A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True escaped my attention for so long. Somehow it made it onto The Bookstore shelves, both in hardcover and paperback, without finding a champion among our booksellers. Only recently did I learn that the author was from Chicago, an English Teacher at Whitney Young Magnet School, and the winner of last year's PEN/Hemingway Award.

What a perfect book to add to my list for Chicago Author Month. Especially because this book is set in Poland and is written by a descendant of Polish immigrants -- and Chicago just happens to have the largest population of Polish-speaking people living outside of Poland.

I am now utterly devoted to this book. I've already been raving about it to my friends and customers, and I've tucked one of our blue staff recommendation cards between its pages. I feel like I've just found a new go-to recommendation in paperback. I'm just sorry I'm so late to the game.

For our customers who haven't yet discovered this book's charms, it's a two-part story: one told like an enchanted fairytale, beginning with a love story in a small Polish village on the eve of World War II, and the other told 50 years later, as the lovers' granddaughter comes of age in modern Krakow, searching for her past and her future at the same time. The elders' experiences during the German occupation, such as hiding in the forest with the Polish resistance, brought to mind some of the things I enjoyed about the movie Defiance. The granddaughter's quest reminded me a little of Jonathon Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated.

In a video interview on her own website, Brigid Pasulka explained that Long, Long Time Ago was based on a combination of "essentially true" stories that she gathered from her own experiences while on post-college visits to Krakow. She tells how she used to sit down and ask older Poles to tell her stories, and they did. In that way, Brigid bears some resemblance to the granddaughter in the book, who realizes that the often heartbreaking stories of her grandparents' generation should be preserved and savored.

There were times when the modern story, which features a "lost generation" of young people in post-Communist Poland of the 1990's, didn't seem able to hold its own weight against the intensity, romance and magic of the older tale. However, the book eventually wove the two stories together, giving the granddaughter a sense of purpose, identity and history. What a nice ending. Highly recommended, with a special thumbs up for our book clubs.

Please stop in and check out Brigid Pasulka's book on our Chicago Author Shelf next time you're in downtown Glen Ellyn. In the meantime, you might enjoy exploring her website.

A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $13.95)

Chicago Author Month: John McNally Appearing October 14th

2010-10-09T09:49:00.026-05:00

Ghosts of Chicago by native Chicagoan John McNally has been released in paperback just in time for Halloween.

I know what you're thinking: creepy noises in the middle of the night, a cold white mist? Actually, not that kind of ghost. The ghosts in this book are different, and so much better. They're lost souls, dead or alive, searching for someone to listen to their lovely, haunting stories.

This short story collection includes a series of stories written in the imagined voices of lost Chicago legends, including John Belushi, Gene Siskel, Walter Payton, Richard J. Daley, George Pullman and Nelson Algren. This is really creative stuff: imagine Walter Payton and Refrigerator Perry on a road trip after the '85 Superbowl, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert in a snowball fight, or John Belushi remembering the acres of pot fields near Champaign, Illinois. For native Chicagoans, there is even a story about WGN's Creature Features and the silent goose. (The same goose my husband's side of the family always brings up when they're "in their cups" and reminiscing about their Chicago area childhood.)

One of the things I love about short story collections, especially for book clubs, is the way you can pick out your favorite stories and compare your list with others. My favorites in this book included The Immortals and the strange and funny so-called Contributor's Notes at the end. At first you wonder why anyone's Notes would be so long (26 pages), but you give McNally the benefit of the doubt. An introductory paragraph is the funniest and most honest author biography I've ever read, but you'll be left puzzling for days, how much is fiction? Check it out:

"After attending a famous writers' workshop in the Midwest, he worked as a short-order cook, bouncer, grave digger, lumberjack, carnival barker, florist, disc jockey, and busboy. Most recently, he was employed as a groundskeeper. He has no permanent place of residence. He owns a 1976 Ford LTD, inside of which he could, if necessary, store all his worldly possessions, This is his first published story."

For fans of McNally's novel After the Workshop, Contributor's Notes offers more sharp wit and McNally's smart, satirical take on the pretensions and idiocy of the publishing world and the creative writing programs that feed it.

Perfect, then, that McNally has also written The Creative Writer's Survival Guide: Advice From an Unrepentant Novelist, a "subjective and idiosyncratic take on the writing life." It's an honest guidebook for aspiring writers who want the truth, and not just the "you can do it!" reassurance of family, friends and many magazines and writing conferences.

Whether you're an aspiring writer or merely a reader who appreciates good, smart fiction, please join us for an evening of cocktails, cheese and crackers with John McNally on Thursday, October 14th from 7:00-8:30pm. We will mingle and chat from 7-7:30, and then we'll hear John talk about his books. (I for one am dying to know about John's supposed jobs as a lumberjack and carnival barker.) Book signing to follow. Please call The Bookstore at (630) 469-2891 or e-mail us to let us know you're coming. We'd hate to run out of cheese.

Ghosts of Chicago was another great discovery for Chicago Area Author Month. You can find this and McNally's other books on our new Chicago Area Author Shelf at The Bookstore. Highly recommended.

Chicago Author Month: Long Way Home by Laura Caldwell

2010-10-01T08:45:00.015-05:00

Long Way Home by Laura Caldwell (Free Press Books)

When Jen at Devourer of Books told me about her plan to dedicate the month of October to Chicago area authors, I said I would be happy to join her. She had gathered a list of Chicago authors with upcoming books, and there was a new one by Laura Caldwell that caught my eye.

Long Way Home is the remarkable story of Laura Caldwell's pro bono work on behalf of Jovan Mosley, a young Chicago man who gave a false confession to the Chicago police, and then sat in prison for nearly six years awaiting trial for first-degree murder.

Caldwell was a civil litigation attorney in Chicago before she quit to be a full-time writer. She calls herself a "lapsed lawyer" although she is a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the University of Loyola School of Law. I knew she wrote a detective series with a high-heeled heroine, but I'd never read any of her books before.

I picked up Long Way Home expecting an interesting journalistic piece, but I was wrong. It was so much more. While the book does provide all of the details of a tragic murder on Chicago's South Side and exposes the shocking flaws in the criminal justice system at 26th and California, this is no dry tale. This book has the pace and suspense of a well plotted courtroom drama, with the heart and soul of the best memoirs. I was in tears by the time the verdict was announced.

I had expected to be a harsh critic. Before I read this book I was skeptical about the notion of false confessions, at least in the absence of outright fraud or torture. Isn't a "false confession" just a confession that the accused later regrets? Back in my law school days, I worked both sides of the fence, first as an intern in a public defender's office and then in a D.A.'s office. Call it bias, cynicism or just plain reality, most of the defendants I met had the opposite problem: false claims of innocence. The jury in Caldwell's story had to struggle with these same doubts.

Jovan Mosley's story changed my mind. There were overzealous cops, missing police reports, delayed Miranda warnings and false promises of leniency. Add to that the problem of Chicago's outrageously overburdened criminal court system, and a nice, innocent kid, and you have a six year nightmare that never should have happened.

But Laura Caldwell's book isn't necessarily about blame and tragedy. It's an old-fashioned, big-hearted story about truth and justice and the courage to believe that good things can happen to good people in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. There's laughter and humor along the way, as Caldwell and Mosley's lead attorney Catharine O'Daniel work to keep Mosley's spirits up through the ordeal. Long hours of trial preparation turn the trial partners into punch-drunk girlfriends. Caldwell does a great job of capturing the surprising collegiality among the judges, cops and attorneys who work in the courtrooms at 26th and California. I would have to agree that the practice of criminal law seems way more "civil" than civil law in Chicago. And best of all, the courtroom scenes and jury deliberations are as well drafted and dramatic as those in a Scott Turow novel.

Long Way Home was a wonderful discovery for Chicago Author Month. I've already put Caldwell's detective novels on my reading list, especially the Rome Affair. As Caldwell explains, it was the research for The Rome Affair that led her to Jovan Mosley. And it's Jovan Mosley's story that will lead me to Caldwell's other fiction.

October is Chicago Area Writers Month at The Bookstore

2010-09-29T09:16:00.022-05:00

Welcome to our month long celebration of Chicago area writers. Throughout the month of October, The Bookstore and its blogging partner Jen Karsbaek ("Devourer of Books") will feature book reviews, author events, book discussions and guest posts with Chicago area authors.

Together, we will be reviewing new books by debut authors, new releases by some of Chicago's well known authors, as well as some of our old favorites by Chicago literary heroes. In addition, The Bookstore be celebrating the introduction of its new Chicago Area Author Shelf, which will include these books as well as many other Chicago notables.

We hope you can join us for our various Chicago Area Writers events in October. The first is on Thursday, October 14th at 7pm with native Chicagoan John McNally. McNally is the author of Ghosts of Chicago (a Chicagoland Indie Bestseller, 2008), After The Workshop (Indie Next Pick and Bookstore Staff Pick 2010), the Creative Writers Survival Guide and more. McNally will talk about his books and give advice to aspiring writers from his guide book. Free wine and cheese with the purchase of at least one of his books. Please call (630) 469-2891 or e-mail to register.

There is a Halloween Open House event for families planned on Saturday, October 16th from 2-5pm, featuring Glen Ellynite J.D. Gordon, author of Kritterkreep, a spooky middle grade/junior high school level Halloween story set right in Glen Ellyn. The open house will include free candy, silly bandz, coloring pages and raffles. Anyone who purchases a copy of Gordon's book will be invited to join in free pumpkin painting. Pumpkins may be purchased outside The Bookstore (proceeds going to St. Mark's DuPage PADS Pumpkin Patch fund) or at St. Mark's. For every book purchased, Gordon will donate $2 back to St. Mark's Pumpkin Patch. Support your local bookstore, a local author, and the local homeless all at the same time.

Finally, mark your calendars for Thursday, October 28th at 7pm for a Chicago Author Night Party at The Bookstore. Area readers and writers are invited to share wine and cheese, and enjoy a book discussion with area authors, including Kevin Guilfoile and Joelle Charbonneau. Kevin is from LaGrange, and is the author of the hot new thriller set in Chicago, The Thousand. Joelle is the debut author of the fun, sexy mystery, Skating Around the Law.

In the meantime, stay tuned to The Bookstore's and Devourer of Books' blogs for more news about our exciting line-up of events and reviews. And stop in to check out our new Chicago Area Author Shelf at The Bookstore. Local authors interested in getting their book on our new bookshelf should come introduce themselves at our events!

Meet Our Book Blogging Partner, "Devourer of Books"

2010-09-01T08:31:00.029-05:00

Over the last year, we've been partnering with Jen Karsbaek, an area book blogger known as "Devourer of Books." Maybe you've met her at some of our author events and parties, or seen her book blogger bookmarks inside her favorite books at the store, but here's a chance to get to know her better.

Jen is a 20-something wife and mom to an adorable little boy named Daniel (seen in the photo "reading" Pat the Bunny). She's a former history major who grew up in California, but came to Chicago to teach in the inner city with Teach for America. She currently lives in Palatine.

This gal can read! The folks at The Bookstore read a lot, but even we're no match for Jen. She has a passion for reading and a depth of knowledge that spills out in every conversation -- no wonder we're such good friends! We rely on her to give us a heads-up about books she's loved, authors to watch and publishers to meet. In turn, she spreads the good word about independent bookstores. Once she even came to The Bookstore as "Bookseller For A Day," which she found "exhausting but fun." We recently sat down and had a chat.

Margie: How and when did you ever get the crazy idea to be a book blogger?

Jen: I first heard that there were people who wrote about books on the internet from a thread on Library Thing and I basically thought "Hey, I love to read! I have opinions! Everyone in my real life is sick of hearing them all the time, maybe the internet would be interested!" This was January of 2008, and I started my blog in February of that year, after poking around a bit to see what people were doing.

Margie: How many books can you devour in a good week? A bad week?

Jen: Last week was a good week and I finished six books, but that is a bit misleading because I had two books I'd been working on and had almost finished at the beginning of the week. One was also an audiobook -- and one was "Mockingjay," which I stayed up late to read. I don't think I can read much more than that in a week. A bad week I'll finish two to three books and one of those will definitely be an audiobook. I consider a month 'good' if I read eighteen or more books, generally.

Margie: How do you manage to get so much reading done with a one year-old? Any tips? Mothers will want to know!

Jen: My number one tip is to have a book with you at all times. Daniel has a habit of falling asleep in the car from time to time, and that is prime reading time. I always make sure I have a book in my purse I can pull out. I make time to read: I'll do it instead of turning on the TV, and I'll often choose to settle down with my book after he goes to bed instead of picking up his toys. He's just going to get them out tomorrow anyway, and I'd rather get some reading time in than have a clean floor for ten hours overnight. Also, audiobooks! I have about a 40 minute commute each way to work, that used to be wasted reading time, but now I grab an audiobook and that's an extra book per week that I can read. Plus when I do break down and clean everything up, I throw in my audiobook to make it a more pleasurable experience.

Margie: What has been your biggest discovery you've made while book blogging?

Jen: The magic of publishing houses and their imprints! Finding an editor/imprint that you love is like finding an author you love, only much more prolific. Some of my favorites are Amy Einhorn Books, Harper Perennial, Algonquin Books, and Unbridled Books. I am also discovering W.W. Norton at the moment. Before blogging I never paid attention to who published the books I was reading, and I was really missing out.

Margie: What are your top 3 (or so) books that you've read since you started blogging, if possible?

Jen: Not even possible, I don't think. I've read too many great ones. Some of my top reads of the last few months have been Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst, Red Hook Road by Ayelet Waldman, and The City and The City by China Meiville.

Margie: And of course, what about Daniel's favorite books?

Jen: Babies Nose to Babies Toes is his number one, he's loved it since he was 3 months old and still does at 14 months. He had a deep and abiding love for Pat the Bunny, but not quite so much anymore. Lately he has been enjoying Just Like Daddy, The Very Busy Spider, and The Baby Bathtime Book. Also, his entire room is decorated in The Very Hungry Caterpillar decor.

Margie: I guess I'll let you go, I'm sure I'm holding you up from a really good book right now! Thanks for sharing.

Jen and The Bookstore are planning to collaborate on a special Chicago Literature Month in October. For more information, go to Jen's blog. We're planning reviews of a wide variety of Chicago area authors, including John McNally, Kevin Guilfoile, Sara Paretsky, Charlene Baumbich, Joelle Charbonneau, Laura Caldwell and more. Stay tuned for news about two very special Chicago Author Events at The Bookstore in October!

Come For Coffee, Talk About Freedom!

2010-08-29T09:48:00.023-05:00

The media has readers all in a frenzy about Jonathan Franzen's new book, Freedom. First, Franzen's on the cover of Time Magazine, next, Barack Obama receives an advance copy from a bookshop in Martha's Vineyard and makes the nightly news, then the New York Times actually calls it a masterpiece. And this is all before the book even goes on sale on Tuesday, August 31st.

What's a regular reader to think? Is Freedom really worth it? How can it possibly live up to this hype? Our customers want to know.

Sue and I have the scoop. We too snagged an advance copy (our own little Barack Obama book club -- too bad he didn't even know it) and we're here to tell you that Freedom does indeed live up to the hype. We loved it.

If you loved The Corrections (and we did) you'll love Freedom. It's the same kind of astute, penetrating family drama, but this time he's analyzing the Berglunds, a suburban family of the 90's who drive Volvos, shop at Whole Foods, get milk delivered in glass bottles and preserve historical homes. You'd swear he was writing about Glen Ellyn.

Sue and I can't stop talking about it. Our only debate is how much we loved it - is it our favorite novel of the year? -- maybe. Was it perfect? -- no. We both agreed there was a chapter or two that didn't work for us, such as a weird Haliburton-type scheme in the later part of the book ("Bad News"). As smartly written as it is, I feel as though it lacks a certain soulfulness that I look for in my perfect book, whatever that might be.

But as Sue said: "this one belongs in a class all by itself - I just can't compare it to anything. . . . The writing absolutely blew me away." As for me, I loved the psychological depth and complexity of the characters, and Franzen's brilliant, almost superpower of observation. And the writing: you savor the words, you're addicted to the narrative. When you're done, you wish you hadn't started it yet. You'll want to call Patty Berglund on the phone and have a nice long talk: "How's Walter?" you'll want to say, "and the kids?" It's just that good.

So yes, we're definitely recommending this book, and we invite you to stop in to buy it and come back to talk about it. The Bookstore is going to have free coffee available this Friday, September 3rd, from 10am until noon. Stop by as you're spinning around downtown and we'll have some "coffee talk" -- whether it's about Franzen's buzzworthy Freedom or any of the other great fall books we're recommending.

Hope to see you soon!
Sue, Margie and all the folks at The Bookstore

Good Times at 50th Anniversary Bash

2010-08-23T11:20:00.011-05:00

Thanks to everyone who turned out for our 50th Anniversary Party on Thursday, August 19th. We had a big crowd, lots of fun and plenty of cupcakes. The crowd broke into a spontaneous "Happy Birthday to The Bookstore" that gave most of the staff the goosebumps. It was just that cool. Kind of like when the crowd in Elf sings a Christmas carol to help Santa fly.

And if anyone is worried The Bookstore won't be around for another 50 years, you can stop worrying right now. Here is the winner of the "Most Voracious Reader" prize for The Bookstore's 50th Anniversary Readathon held in June: she's a Glen Ellyn third grader who not only read 26 hours on her own, but also led her Readathon Team to a total of 364.5 hours in just one weekend. Something tells me with young customers like her, The Bookstore will be in good standing for decades to come.

Thanks, Glen Ellyn readers, for your support and for your belief in the benefit of a local independent bookstore.

Happy 5oth.

Kids Author Event With Janis Simms

2010-08-23T10:45:00.003-05:00

On Saturday, August 21st, author Janis Simms joined us at The Bookstore for a storytime based on her book, Grandma's Basket. Youngsters ages 3 to 7 enjoyed the storytime about a grandma trying to fill a basket full of vegetables. Healthy apple and carrot snacks were included, along with coloring pages from the book. The author has a new children's picture book coming out in October about friendly (not scary) spiders, so stay tuned!

Highly Recommended: American Music

2010-08-18T07:43:00.010-05:00

My first question to my colleague Sue upon her return from a vacation is always the same: "What did you read?" This summer, she came back absolutely enthralled with American Music by Jane Mendelsohn. She handed me her copy like it was a present, and I started it that night.

The writing in this book is so good, so lyrical and so lovely that you can't rush through for the sake of the story. If I hadn't been borrowing Sue's copy, I would have been highlighting every other page. (I do that when I'm taken with a good line -- and then call the book "highlighter worthy.") This is one of the most highlighter worthy books I've read this year.

The story is about an injured Iraq War soldier with deep psychological wounds. He is a patient in a veteran's hospital, where he meets a massage therapist whose hands are like magic. Whenever she touches him, mysterious stories are revealed to both of them as if they're having the same dream. Stories about other lovers in other times, including a story set in the jazz age, where music, time and history blend together in the middle of a swing dance. The book goes back and forth from the developing relationship between the soldier and his therapist, and the stories that unite them. The reader shares their curiosity: what do these stories mean? What do they have to do with the soldier? Maybe the stories will lead to his cure, or lead the the soldier and therapist into love. It's a compelling mystery.

The story is good, but it's the writing that totally got me. When Mendelsohn says, "For a soldier's body is a work of art that contains his country's history," I felt as if all of the honor in the Gettysburg Address has been distilled into one simple sentence. When the therapist says to the soldier: "Your body is like a haunted house . . . . And it seems as though I live there," I could feel their connection down to my bones.

I can't wait to start hearing customer feedback from this book. I expect it will earn a highly devoted following. If you stop in The Bookstore on a Friday when Sue and I are there together, you'll be sure to hear us chatting it up some more. We hope you won't leave The Bookstore without it!

Little Ways to Keep Calm and Carry On Book Launch Party on September 9th at 7pm

2010-08-13T10:42:00.033-05:00

"No worries." It's the new catch phrase.

As if.

Everybody worries. It doesn't mean you need a shrink. But every once in awhile, when the stress level gets a bit too high, you might wish you had a little coach sitting on your shoulder to give you some tips on how to calm yourself down.

We're really excited to be hosting a book launch party for former Glen Ellynite Mark Reinecke. He's a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University and an expert on anxiety. He's managed to put all of his expertise into a cute, handy little guidebook for everyday life. Who doesn't need a little extra help to keep calm in these stress-filled times?

The book launch party will include various treats and pleasures to help you "keep calm and carry on." Enjoy an evening with wine, chocolate and calming treats from Namaste, a neighborly downtown Glen Ellyn salon. Mark will give a brief talk about his book and will then sign and personalize your books.

The book is small, handy and inexpensive ($14.95). It would make a great holiday gift for your slightly stressed friends and family. Please RSVP to the party and place your pre-orders for the book by calling (630) 469-2891 or e-mailing justbook475@yahoo.com.

The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle

2010-08-11T08:13:00.015-05:00

The Blessings of the Animals (Harper Perennial paperback original, $14.95) is on our August Staff Pick list, and all of our customers who know me well probably know why. Just look at that cover! It makes me want to drive out to my favorite barn and hug a horse.

This is a wonderful story about a woman named Cami Anderson who is a veterinarian with her own animal hospital, an animal rescue volunteer with the Humane Society, the mother of a teenage daughter, and the wife of a moody restaurateur. The very day Cami gets a call to rescue some severely neglected horses (she brings home the most damaged one, a handsome but angry kicker) her husband tells her "I don't want to be married anymore." Cami has to learn what is worth rescuing, and what isn't.

I was enthralled with every single passage about Moonshot the wounded horse. He had painful abscesses in his hooves, but responded to Epsom salt soaks and Cami's slow, gentle efforts to untangle the bird nests in his tail. By the time Cami is able to saddle-up Moonshot and sit on him without getting bucked off, you're not really sure who has rescued whom.

This is an enjoyable book that would be appropriate for both women and teen girls. I plan to pass it along to my favorite horse trainer, who is just as gifted with horses as Cami. Maybe I'll even stop out at the barn and brush out a horse's tangled tail, because there's nothing quite like the blessings of animals.

Happy 50th Birthday Bookstore: Books From 1960

2010-08-02T14:45:00.014-05:00

In celebration of our 50th birthday, The Bookstore is hosting a 50th Anniversary Party on August 19, 2010 at 7pm. All of our customers, including kids, teens and adults are invited to enjoy the cake, drinks and raffle prizes.

In case you weren't even born yet, or in case you were but can't seem to remember, here is a list of a few of our favorite books from 1960:

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

One Fish Two Fish ... by Dr. Seuss

Cricket in Times Square by George Selden

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Hawaii by James Michener

The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa

The Rise & Fall of the 3rd Reich by William Shirer

Advise and Consent by Allen Drury

(1960 Pulitzer Prize)

Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth

(1960 National Book Award)

We love surprises, so we'll just drop a hint at this point: some of our raffle prizes just might bring you back to 1960. Please join us and share in the 60's fun! RSVP to (630) 469-2891 or justbook475@yahoo.com. See you then!

Come Celebrate Our 50th Anniversary on August 19th!

2010-07-19T22:01:00.021-05:00

The folks at The Bookstore are pretty excited. We're getting ready to celebrate our 50th anniversary on August 19th at 7pm, and all of our customers are invited to stop in to join the celebration. Oh, by the way, there's cake, prizes and raffles for free books!

In the meantime, we just thought you might like to hear our story. If you have your own stories or memories you'd like to share, please add a comment below or e-mail us. We'd love to add your stories to the history of the store.

The Bookstore was founded by Vic and Rosamond Du Jardin prior to 1960, but moved to its current storefront at 475 N. Main Street in Glen Ellyn in 1960. The old brick building dates back to 1892, and was originally home to McChesney's General Store. When McChesney's moved out, they left behind an old safe that looks like it belongs in a wild west movie. We still use that safe today, and include it on our historical tours to children and senior citizens. At that time The Bookstore occupied a double storefront, including the space that now houses our neighborhood knitting shop, String Theory.

The Du Jardins were a colorful pair; Rosamond Du Jardin was the author of teen fiction set in the malt shop era, including such titles as Senior Prom, Boy Trouble and Double Date. Vic Du Jardin was an avid reader. According to village legend, if you came in the store and asked Vic for a certain book, he'd interrupt his own reading, put his finger in his book to mark his spot, and point vaguely over to a part of the store, saying "if we've got it, it's over there." He would continue reading until you came to the cash register, at which time he'd put his finger back in his spot in the book, ring up the sale, make change and put your book in a bag, all without losing his place in his book. Although your 21st century Bookstore hopes it offers more helpful service, we are still avid readers with a passion for books, just like the founders.

Jack and Marguerite Rice purchased The Bookstore from the Du Jardins in 1973. The south half of the store was made into a record shop, and The Bookstore was limited to the north half. According to their son David Rice, it was named "The Book Store - M. Rice - Prop. 1973" in order to hearken back to the small town stores his parents had known in their youth. David remembers many New Year's Days spent doing end-of-the-year inventory at the Book Store with his extended family, watching bowl games on a portable TV they'd set up in the store. David speaks fondly of his time spent as co-manager on and off throughout the 1980's, enjoying the camaraderie with fellow booksellers. Camaraderie with fellow readers is still the key to The Bookstore's success over 30 years later.

In 1987, Marguerite Rice was ready to retire and sold the Book Store to Barb and Dwight Reed, who owned it until 1997. In 1997, the Reeds retired to operate another independent bookstore in Frankfort, Michigan. Jane Stroh had been an employee of the bookstore since 1985, and in 1997, she and her husband Tim purchased it from the Reeds. Although the store is known in town as "The Bookstore," its official name is "Just the Bookstore, Inc." I heard that when people would ask Jane for the name of her new business, she would say "The Bookstore," and they would say, "just The Bookstore?" Jane's reply: "Yes, just The Bookstore."

I've always loved the name "Just the Bookstore." It's a little self-deprecating, a little falsely modest; we are, after all, much more than just a bookstore. We'd like to think we're a meeting place, a salon, or a community center. We've encouraged generations of Glen Ellyn children to read. We've employed many smart, bookish teens, and sent them off to success at some of the finest colleges. We've been there for you for 50 years, perhaps counselling you through personal troubles or celebrating your success by recommending just the right book or the perfect poem. We gossip, we chat, we laugh. We make faces at your squirmy babies; we humor your Twilighty teens, and we support your charitable causes. But most of all, we share our love of reading with the village we truly love. And thankfully, for 50 years now, the village has loved us back.

So in honor of all of these wonderful things, The Bookstore has been hosting a 50th anniversary celebration all year long. Every month, we've held a raffle for a $50 gift certificate to The Bookstore. Anyone who spends more than $50 that month is included in the raffle. In honor of its 50th year in Glen Ellyn, The Bookstore was also a key sponsor of the 1st Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest, and was responsible for bringing notable authors to our village for the first time for some truly unique literary events. Finally, in a desire to to not only give back to the community but also to promote literacy in Glen Ellyn, The Bookstore has been the proud sponsor of the 50 Hour Readathon, a benefit for the Glen Ellyn Children's Resource Center that took place over a 50-hour period in June.

All of the teams and participants in the Readathon are invited to our celebration, where awards will be announced and prizes will be presented. The categories include: Team Spirit Award, Most Voracious Reader, Most Voracious Readathon Team, and Most Money Raised (Team). Even if you didn't participate in the Readathon, we hope you can make it to the party to help us thank those who did.

Please join us! Call (630) 469-2891 or e-mail us at justbook475@yahoo.com to RSVP. If you have your own stories to add, please comment below.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week: Bookstore Blogs

2010-07-06T09:17:00.021-05:00

Starting a bookstore blog has been one of the best things our bookstore ever could have done to meet the challenge of the digital age. Our little bricks and mortar store suddenly had a voice that could be heard far away from the store. You used to have to wait for customers to drop in during business hours and browse. We'd take the time to chat about our staff picks or the latest hot book club choices, and hopefully sell armfuls of books to eager readers. And of course we still do that every single day. But thanks to our blog, we can also have those conversations while our customers are in their jammies, on the couch or on the road.

Our main goal has always been to communicate with our customers -- we link to the blog in every customer e-newsletter - and to bring to them a focus on books and events that we don't have time for in a short newsletter. But we've also used our blog to connect to the wider world of bloggers, readers, authors and fellow indie booksellers out there, and we've learned that it makes us better booksellers. We're more up to date on new releases, we hear the buzz from other bloggers, and we make friends and connections that help us put good books into the hands of good customers.

So, in recognition of what blogging has and can yet do for our bookstore, we are entering our blog in the Book Blogger Appreciation Week Niche Award Category for Bookstore Blogs. It's hard to choose which posts are our favorite (isn't it like admitting you have a favorite child?) but here's the list:

1. General Bookstore Post #1: What Your Indie Will Do For You (6/30/10)

2. General Bookstore Post #2: Introducing: Book Blogger Bookmarks at The Bookstore (3/3/10)

3. Book Recommendation #1: Remarkable Creatures, Remarkable Women (1/17/10)

4. Book Recommendation #2: April Picks on the Staff Pick Shelf at The Bookstore (5/1/10)

5. Book Recommendation #3: Local Author's Latest Book, Stray Affections, Is Featured In Bookstore Window (11/27/10). (In case the judges consider this post more of a general bookstore post than a book recommendation post, I will offer one more book recommendation post for consideration.)

6. Book Recommendation #3.5: The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow (2/15/10)

We're really looking forward to being a part of this year's BBAW. Here's wishing good luck and great reading to the judges and all the other book bloggers.

Staff Pick: The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst

2010-07-05T19:06:00.018-05:00

Our customers probably saw Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst on the sidebar of our July newsletter under "Staff Picks," but I wanted to tell you how it got there and why we love it as much as we do.

As you can see, the picture on the cover is beautiful, mysterious and sad, which makes it absolutely perfect for this book. It looks like a little boy is lost at sea, standing on a life preserver, looking away from the viewer. That's how the book starts: there is a grown boy who needs to be saved, but he's looking away.

There are many wonderful layers to this book. In one way, it's the story of Octavia Frost's effort to save her 27 year-old son Milo, from whom she's been estranged for four years. Milo is a young rock star accused of murdering his girlfriend in their MTV-style Hollywood home. But it's not just murder charges from which Milo needs to be saved. He needs to be saved from the pain of a family tragedy that occurred when he was a boy, from the wounds of being a survivor in a fractured family, and from the harm that more recently came from his own mother's words. Milo was deeply hurt by the way Octavia described a fictional family in one of her previous novels; it came too close to being an autobiographical account of their own family tragedy. Parkhurst reveals Octavia and Milo's true family history so slowly and tenderly that when you finally learn what happened, you feel like you've suffered their loss as well. You'll "get" Milo and you'll want to save him too.

But in the meantime there's a mystery to solve, aging rockers to meet, and most importantly, books to rewrite. Even before the murder, Octavia had sensed that she wanted to rewrite her life and to reach out to Milo. She had just rewritten the endings of her previous novels in a genre-bending new manuscript called Nobodies Album, named for a musical game she and Milo used to play. As if lifted from Octavia's imaginary manuscript, there are sections in this book for each of Octavia's previous novels that include the title, the jacket copy, the published ending and Octavia's revised ending.

For the reader, these fascinating faux-novels can work like complimentary short stories that reveal even deeper truths about Octavia and Milo's past. You'll find yourself playing games with these stories-within-the-story: which one is your favorite? Which one had the best revised ending? Would it change anything if Milo would read the revised endings, or is Octavia's apparent change of heart enough? Can you ever really rewrite your life?

My favorite story was The Human Slice. It could stand alone as a haunting short story about parental regret, loss and memory. A whole family suffers when baby Jonah dies in a horrible, preventable tragedy. Later, a strange new disease strikes their community and causes selective memory loss, so that those who are stricken are unable to remember sad events. Is it a gift to be relieved of the pain of remembering Jonah, or is it a loss? If you're like me, that question will haunt you for a long time to come.

The unique combination of these highly original faux-stories with a rock-star murder mystery and a lovely tale of mother-son reconciliation makes for a fabulously original, deeply satisfying read. Please stop in and pick up Nobodies Album before your own summer is nothing but a memory.

What Your Indie Will Do For You

2010-06-30T10:01:00.012-05:00

This is just a little story about a little indie that has been a valued part of our small village life for over 50 years. And maybe you'll see why we're still here, in spite of all the odds against small-time booksellers.

A customer strolled in yesterday looking for a book to read while her car was going to be repaired. And I sympathized. The only thing worse than waiting for car repairs is waiting for car repairs without a book. It's unimaginable. It's torture.

She had a couple of books in mind, and one of the was The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. "Ooh, I said, that is a good one." But of course we were out. I checked the computer, and I learned that it would be in the next UPS shipment due to arrive any minute. (We love our adorable UPS man Gary, who cheerfully stacks our boxes in groups according to Purchase Order number, making it so easy to unpack and sort.) I asked the customer: "What time is your car appointment? If you can stay and browse for a little while, the UPS man will probably be here soon."

That's when my colleague Jenny, who is a contagiously cheerful gal, looked out the window and said: "Oh my goodness, there goes Gary now!" She jumped up and chased Gary down the sidewalk, where his dolly was parked in front of another shop. Jenny checked the packing slip on each box that was addressed to The Bookstore, and found the one we wanted. She opened the door of the other shop, and hollered to Gary: "I just stole one of our boxes!" and ran back to the store like she had just captured the flag.

Our customer was thrilled. We opened the box with the excitement of a couple of four year-olds at Christmas. We all had a good laugh. And our customer said: "I'm going to tell everyone about this. This is the best customer service I have ever seen! They don't do this at [fill-in-the-blank-big-box-bookstore]!"

Damn right.

Because that's why we're here. We love getting books in the hands of readers, and we'll even chase down the UPS man to do it. And maybe that's why we've been here for over 50 years.

Just a little something to think about as you start your Independence Day celebrations. Declare your independence and resolve to shop more Indie.